Question & Answer
Question
Why is getty not starting, preventing a console login?
Answer
The most common reason for getty not starting is failure of a preceding line in /etc/inittab. Since that line does not complete, the line which starts getty is not read.
To troubleshoot:
Check the console setting
# lscons
vty0
Check the state of vty0
# lsdev -C|grep vty0
vty0 is available
Check process table for getty
# ps -ef|grep getty
There is no output, which means that the getty process isn't running.
Check to see what process is prohibiting getty from starting or respawning.
# who -p
srcmstr . Jan 06 11:29 6:58 114822 id=srcmstr
cron . Jan 06 11:29 6:58 188588 id=cron
uprintfd . Jan 06 11:29 6:58 66000 id=uprintf
l2 . Jan 06 11:29 6:58 98764 id=l2/code>
Usually, the culprit is the last process in the who -p output. In this example, it is l2, which is called from the /etc/inittab file. NOTE: l2 is causing the system to not completely read /etc/inittab.
Per the "who -p" output, the process in question is 98764. Check the process table for this PID.
# grep l2 /etc/inittab
l2:2:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 2
Per the "who -p" output, the process in question is 98764. Check the process table for this PID.
# ps -ef | grep 98764
root 98764 1 0 Jan 06 - 0:00 /bin/ksh /etc/rc.d/rc 2
root 106944 98764 0 Jan 06 - 0:00 /bin/sh /etc/rc.d/rc2.d/Ssapinit start
# kill -9 106944
Refresh /etc/inittab
# telinit q
Check who -p again
# who -p
srcmstr . Jan 06 11:29 7:30 114822 id=srcmstr
cron . Jan 06 11:29 7:30 188588 id=cron
uprintfd . Jan 06 11:29 7:30 66000 id=uprintf
xmdaily . Jan 08 07:29 7:30 377276 id=xmdaily
# ps -ef|grep getty
root 589926 1 0 07:32:34 vty0 0:00 /usr/sbin/getty /dev/console
root 328002 675914 0 07:34:07 pts/0 0:00 grep getty
NOTE: The getty process is not running.
You should now be able to log in from a console.
Additional information:
If
who -p
returns "install_" in its output, this indicates that the install_assist line in /etc/inittabis preventing getty from starting or respawning. You can prevent install_assist from starting by placing a colon ':' at the beginning of the install_assist line.
[{"Product":{"code":"SWG10","label":"AIX"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU058","label":"IBM Infrastructure w\/TPS"},"Component":"Not Applicable","Platform":[{"code":"PF002","label":"AIX"}],"Version":"Version Independent","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB08","label":"Cognitive Systems"}}]
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Document Information
Modified date:
14 November 2019
UID
isg3T1012075