i386 to x86_64 Upgrade

thadco · 12-06-2005, 12:52 PM

Got myself a Dell 1800 with dual Xeons that I setup with CentOS 4.1 i386.

4.2 is out now and I was wondering if anything bad is going to happen if I upgrade with the 64 bit version? I've got a Raid 5 setup and bare-metal restore is a serious pain since I have knowledge of even how to do it on a Linux box. So what are the potential dangers?

It's been a crap week and I'd rather not have to go through hell. If the 64 bit upgrade will be problematic, I'll just stick with the 386 version.

mcmillan · 12-06-2005, 05:46 PM

Do you mean problems with running 64 in general, or problems the upgrade process? I only have experience doing a clean install.

I don't know how CentOS is but I've been running Ubuntu64 for about 4 months now without any problems. The only real disadvantage is that some apps are only available for 32 bit architecture. There's some ways to fudge things, but they're not always easy. If this is something that could be an issue you might want to look into setting up a chroot to run the 32bit stuff on.

thadco · 12-06-2005, 06:15 PM

Thanks. No, I mean problems specifically with doing an upgrade from 32 to 64 bit on an already configured machine.

I'll have to look into this chroot thing.