Error: JOBF wildcard file transfer fails with 'Broken pipe' or 'Eyecatcher Invalid' on AIX Agent.

Products

• CA Automic Workload Automation - Automation Engine
• Automic SaaS

Issue/Introduction

File transfers (JOBF) using wildcards against an AIX Agent fail intermittently when processing large file lists or during high concurrency bursts.

Symptoms

• The job report shows a broken pipe error: U00063031 Cannot log on as user '####'. Error: 'java.io.IOException write_socket1(####,0,58) failed, errno: 32 (There is no process to read data written to a pipe.)'
• The Agent log reports a communication failure with the User Service: U02000495 Communication to UserService for request 'USGFLIST' failed, reason: 'Invalid message, eyecatcher invalid: '####''
• The status store fails to create: U00063042 Status store '####.sts' cannot be created. Error: 'java.io.IOException Failed to read attributes of '####''

Environment

• Product: Automic Automation Engine
• Component: AIX Agent 24.x
• Java: Java 17 (IBM Semeru or OpenJDK)

Cause

Two distinct defects trigger these symptoms:

1. Buffer Misalignment (DE177647): A communication misalignment occurs between the User Service and the Java Agent when processing fragmented data from large file lists (3,500+ files).
2. Resource Exhaustion (DE209207): High concurrency bursts (e.g., 40+ simultaneous transfers) overwhelm the source agent's capacity. The OS or container manager terminates the user_service_pkg helper processes mid-flight due to PID/nproc or memory limits, resulting in a broken pipe (errno 32).

Resolution

For issues related to "Eyecatcher Invalid":

1. Upgrade the AIX Agent to version 24.4.4 or higher.

For issues related to "Broken pipe" or "errno 32" during high load:

1. Throttle concurrency by using Automic workflow queues to limit the number of simultaneous file transfer jobs.
2. Increase OS resource limits (ulimit -u for max user processes and memory) for the service user on the AIX host.
3. Add a WAIT command between sequential job starts to prevent rapid spikes in process creation.

Note: Further optimization for high-concurrency process handling is targeted to be fixed in a future release. Subscribe to this article (see How to subscribe to Knowledge Management articles) to be notified of fix status updates.

Component: Agent Unix

Automic Automation Engine 24.4.6 - TBA