When certain operations run on the volume object, it is locked from other utilities. (This is done by setting a value in the tutil0 and/or putil0 fields.) If other utilities try to perform destructive operations on that volume at the same time, they are rejected and this message displays. For example, when plex attach is running and you try to stop the volume, this message displays.

You can use the vxprint command to determine the tutil0 and putil0 values. For example:

#  vxvol -g sdg stop volbig
VxVM vxvol ERROR V-5-1-1213 Volume volbig in use by another utility

#  vxprint -g sdg volbig
TY NAME         ASSOC        KSTATE   LENGTH   PLOFFS   STATE    TUTIL0  PUTIL0
v   volbig           fsgen           ENABLED 8388608   -                 ACTIVE   ATT1     -
pl  volbig-01     volbig            ENABLED 8388608   -                ACTIVE    -            -
sd xiv0_6-01    volbig-01      ENABLED 8388608   0                -               -            -
pl  volbig-02     volbig            ENABLED 8388608   -                STALE    ATT        -
sd xiv0_7-01    volbig-02      ENABLED 8388608   0                 -             -             -
 

#  ps -ef | grep vx
....
root  286746  323658   0 07:25:16  pts/4  0:04 /usr/lib/vxvm/type/fsgen/vxplex -
U fsgen -g 1291170696.66.hostname -g sdg -o slow -- att volbig volbig-02
....

Another operation that triggers this message is the disassociation of plexes or subdisks for volumes and cache volumes.