Affected versions: IBM AIX 7.1

📖 ~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

HMC shows LPAR RMC connection ‘Inactive’; DLPAR ops on AIX 7.3 fail.

Environment & Reproduction

RSCT rmcd on AIX cannot reach HMC over service network.

Root Cause Analysis

ctcas/IPSec keys out of sync or firewall blocking TCP/657.

Quick Triage

Run lssrc -a | grep rsct and rmcctrl -p to check state.

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Use ctsnap -d /tmp/ctsnap to package RSCT diagnostics.

Illustrative mockup for aix-7.1 — aix_rmc_hmc_comm_loss_diag
Diagnostic view for aix-rmc-hmc-comm-loss — Illustrative mockup — Progressive Robot

Solution – Primary Fix

Re-cycle RSCT with rmcctrl -z; rmcctrl -A; rmcctrl -p.

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Illustrative mockup for aix-7.1 — aix_rmc_hmc_comm_loss_fix
Remediation steps for aix-rmc-hmc-comm-loss — Illustrative mockup — Progressive Robot

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Recreate keys with ctcasd -a and re-add LPAR partition on HMC.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

HMC shows RMC Active and lsdr -c mem returns expected values.

Rollback Plan

Restore /var/ct from snapshot if rmcctrl reset breaks DLPAR.

Prevention & Hardening

Allow TCP/657 to HMC and monitor RMC heartbeats.

DLPAR failures, missing partition profile updates.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for aix-7.1.

View all aix-7.1 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

IBM RSCT and HMC RMC communication guide.

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