Ok, I've solved this.
The error from the stack trace points to a problem in writing to the system logs which is consistent with the error I see when I startup glassfish (see earlier post in this thread).
I switched to JDK5 and I don't see the error when I startup glassfish and everything runs fine. So it seems there's something in JDK 6 version on AIX which glassfish does not like.
Version that works (JDK5):
32 bit:
java full version "J2RE 1.5.0 IBM AIX build pap32devifx-20090327 (SR9-SSU )"
64 bit:
java full version "J2RE 1.5.0 IBM AIX build pap64devifx-20090327 (SR9-SSU )"
Version that does not work (JDK5)
java full version "J2RE 1.5.0 IBM AIX build pap64devifx-20060124"
Version that does not work (JDK6)
JDK6 64-Bit
java full version "JRE 1.6.0 IBM AIX build pap6460sr4-20090219_01 (SR4)"
JDK6 32-Bit
java full version "JRE 1.6.0 IBM AIX build pap3260sr4ifx-20090417_02 (SR4)"
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