IBM AIX 7.2 – Common Problem 220 – Diagnosis and Fix

📖 ~1 min read

Table of contents

1. Symptom & Impact
2. Environment & Reproduction
3. Root Cause Analysis
4. Quick Triage
5. Step-by-Step Diagnosis
6. Solution – Primary Fix
7. Solution – Alternative Approaches
8. Verification & Acceptance Criteria
9. Rollback Plan
10. Prevention & Hardening
11. Related Errors & Cross-Refs
12. References & Further Reading

Symptom & Impact

multibos operations fail with insufficient space or leftover bos_hd5/bos_hd4 LVs.

Environment & Reproduction

Previous multibos -B or -X did not complete cleanly.

multibos -l
lsvg -l rootvg | head
df -g

Root Cause Analysis

Stale bos_* logical volumes or partial standby BOS data block subsequent multibos runs.

Quick Triage

List rootvg LVs and find stale bos_* entries.

lsvg -l rootvg | grep bos_
multibos -l
df -g

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Compare current standby BOS state with rootvg capacity.

multibos -l
lsvg rootvg | head
lslv bos_hd5

Solution – Primary Fix

Remove the standby BOS cleanly and reclaim space, then retry.

multibos -R
lsvg -l rootvg
multibos -s -X

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Use alt_disk_copy on a free disk instead of multibos for safer split rootvg testing.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

rootvg holds only required LVs and multibos -l shows expected state.

multibos -l
lsvg -l rootvg | head
df -g

Rollback Plan

Restore mksysb if multibos cleanup introduced rootvg inconsistencies.

nim -o bos_inst -a source=mksysb client01
oslevel -s
lspv

Prevention & Hardening

Use multibos sparingly, monitor rootvg, and prefer alt_disk_copy where possible.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Related to bosboot failures, rootvg space pressure, and LVM mirroring conflicts.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for aix-7.2.

View all aix-7.2 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

IBM AIX 7.2 multibos reference.