Upgrading from 32 bit to 64 bit

[Rick Stevens]

On Thu, 2006-09-07 at 10:32 -0700, Waldher, Travis R wrote:
> What is involved for Redhat AS 4.0?
> 
> The system was initially built 32bit, but some users would like it
> running in 64.
> 
> Is it as simple as loading a different kernel? :fingerscrossed:

Well, yeah, but most of your applications won't be accelerated that
much.  A full 64-bit system will have most of the utilities (/bin,
/sbin, /usr/bin, /usr/sbin, etc.) built with 64-bit as well as having
full 64-bit libraries (/usr/lib64 as well as /usr/lib).

Can you run a 64-bit kernel with 32-bit utilities?  Sure.  Will it buy
you much?  Not really.  For example, I run an Opteron at home with full
FC5 64-bit stuff.  Real grunt work (compilations, OpenOffice, etc.) are
MUCH faster under 64-bit.

I do run some 32-bit apps on it, however.  Some examples are: 32-bit
firefox so I can have Flash (there's no Flash plugin for 64-bit), Skype
(no 64-bit version available), and Opera (same thing). They work fine
and do seem a bit faster, but that's a purely subjective opinion.  I've
done no benchmarking on them.  Your mileage may vary.  It won't hurt to
try running a 64-bit kernel and see what you think.  You can always boot
the 32-bit one if you don't care for it.

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- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
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-               Duct Tape + Magic Marker = Label Maker!              -
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