IBM AIX 7.2 – Common Problem 099 – 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

Console log shows ‘respawning too rapidly’ for an inittab entry.

Environment & Reproduction

Triggered by a misconfigured custom service in /etc/inittab.

Root Cause Analysis

init disables the entry after repeated start/exit cycles.

Quick Triage

Run lsitab -a and tail /var/adm/ras/conslog for the entry id.

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Check the launched script’s exit code with sh -x and strace-like tools.

Solution – Primary Fix

Fix the script, then chitab to re-enable the action=respawn entry.

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Alternative: replace with an SRC-managed subsystem via mkssys.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Verify with telinit q and ps -ef that the process stays running.

Rollback Plan

Keep /etc/inittab.bak before edits to allow quick rollback.

Prevention & Hardening

Wrap fragile commands in retry/backoff logic before respawning.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Related: INIT_RESPAWN_RAPIDLY warnings and console spam.

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 Docs: AIX init and inittab format.