AIX 7.3 TL3 SP1 and "rcmd" errors

Author: Chris Gibson

Date: 31/07/2025

After updating our NIM server from 7300-03-00-2446 to 7300-03-01-2520, and rebooting, we started encountering issues when running some NIM commands, from both the NIM server and clients.

Some examples:

root@nim1 / # nim -o remove spotvios4110_mksysb

0042-001 nim: processing error encountered on "master":

0042-006 m_rmspot: (To_Master) rcmd A file or directory in the path name does not exist.

root@aix1 / # nim -o remove mybosinstdata

0042-001 nim: processing error encountered on "master":

0042-006 m_rmres: (To_Master) rcmd A file or directory in the path name does not exist.

root@aix1 / # nimclient -l -l `hostname -s`

0042-006 nimclient: (To_Master) rcmd A file or directory in the path name does not exist.

We immediately rolled back to 7300-03-00-2446 and everything started working again.

After some investigation we were alerted to the fact that this was a bug.

To work around the issue, after updating a NIM server to 7300-03-01-2520 (and rebooting or after Live Update), perform the following steps on the NIM server to prevent the “rcmd” errors:

1. Cat your /etc/niminfo file and take note of the contents.

root@nim1 / # cat /etc/niminfo

# nimconfig

export NIM_NAME=master

export NIM_CONFIGURATION=master

export NIM_MASTER_PORT=1058

export NIM_REGISTRATION_PORT=1059

export NIM_MASTER_HOSTNAME=lpar1

2. Move the /etc/niminfo file to a backup file name.

mv /etc/niminfo /etc/niminfo.old

3. Rebuild the /etc/niminfo file

nimconfig -r

4. Cat the /etc/niminfo file again and observe the updated contents.

root@nim1 / # cat /etc/niminfo

#------------------ Network Install Manager ---------------

# warning - this file contains NIM configuration information

# and should only be updated by NIM

# machine which controls the NIM environment

export NIM_NAME=master

export NIM_HOSTNAME=lpar1

export NIM_CONFIGURATION=master

export NIM_MASTER_HOSTNAME=lpar1

export NIM_SSL_STATUS=disabled

export NIM_MASTER_PORT=1058

export NIM_REGISTRATION_PORT=1059

export NIM_FIPS_MODE=0

export NIM_BOS_IMAGE=/SPOT/usr/sys/inst.images/installp/ppc/bos

export NIM_BOS_FORMAT=rte

export NIM_HOSTS=" 127.0.0.1:loopback:localhost 10.8.12.11:lpar1 "

export NIM_MOUNTS=""

export ROUTES=" default:0:10.8.12.254 "

5. Stop the nimesis daemon.

stopsrc -s nimesis

6. Ensure there are no nimesis processes running. Be patient.

ps -ef | grep nimesis

lssrc -s nimesis

7. Start the nimesis daemon again.

startsrc -s nimesis

lssrc -s nimesis

8. Retry a NIM operation from the NIM server and a client. It should be successful now.

For example:

root@nim1 / # lsnim -t bosinst_data

mybosinstdata resources bosinst_data

root@nim1 / # nim -o remove mybosinstdata

root@nim1 / # lsnim -t bosinst_data

root@nim1 / #

root@aix1 / # nimclient -l -l `hostname -s`

aix1:

class = machines

type = standalone

connect = nimsh

platform = chrp

netboot_kernel = 64

if1 = network0 aix1 EEEB78881F04 ent0

cable_type1 = N/A

mgmt_profile1 = pok-sse-hmc1 4 sys854

Cstate = ready for a NIM operation

prev_state = not running

Mstate = currently running

cpuid = 00F943F94C00

Cstate_result = success

The development team had the following to say about this issue:

“The issue is that the "export NIM_SSL_STATUS=disabled" line is missing from niminfo file”

The other option is to simply edit the /etc/niminfo file and add the missing export NIM_SSL_STATUS=disabled line, then restart the nimesis daemon.

I believe that this behaviour may also been seen on NIM servers running AIX 7.2 TL5 SP10 specifically. I'm awaiting APAR and ifix information from the developers, however, I wanted to share this information with the AIX community, just in case others come across this issue in the field.