Dear zyxtberk,
From what I have read on the subject, you are best advised to
stick with 32-bit software for the time being. Although there is a
64-bit version of the Linux kernel, and Red Hat does offer it in its
commercial and zero-cost products, users are reporting compatibility and
performance glitches that have yet to be ironed out by the developer
community. Nonetheless, you can purchase a 64-bit Xeon or Opteron
machine and run 32-bit software on it until 64-bit Linux reaches full
maturity. Let me explain why.
Intel has a 64-bit CPU architecture called Itanium, which has enjoyed
Linux kernel support for over a year now. The Itanium instruction set
is known by the abbreviated name IA-64.
ZDnet: Linux on Itanium passes milestone
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-5059849.html
The Itanium line has been foundering in the marketplace, however. Intel
has had better success with its 64-bit Xeon CPUs, which do not use the
IA-64 instruction set. Instead, they support the x86_64 architecture
introduced by AMD for its Opteron line. Thus, Intel's 64-bit Xeon and
AMD's Opteron processors speak essentially the same language.
The x86_64 instruction set is also supported by the Linux kernel. The
latest stable version of the zero-cost Red Hat distribution, called
Fedora Core 3, is available at this time with x86_64 support, as is the
commercial Red Hat distribution, Enterprise Linux.
Red Hat: Download: Fedora Core 3: x86_64
http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/3/x86_64/iso/
"Initial releases of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 ES only offered x86
(32-bit support). However, responding to customer requests, Red Hat has
now expanded ES to include 64-bit support for AMD64 processors."
AMD: x86-64.org: Home
http://www.x86-64.org/
Red Hat: Store: Enterprise Linux
http://www.redhat.com/apps/commerce/
If you download Fedora Core 3, you should be able to install it on either
an Opteron or a 64-bit Xeon machine without difficulty. If you purchase
Enterprise Linux, for instance the ES version at $349, it comes with a
year's worth of technical support from Red Hat.
Red Hat: Enterprise Linux ES
http://www.redhat.com/software/rhel/es/
One of the nice things about the x86_64 architecture is that it's
backward-compatible with 32-bit computing. Thus, you could purchase a
64-bit Penguin Computing box, install your old software on it, and go on
serving your web pages as though nothing had changed, except that you
would now have the additional disk space and higher clock rate of the
new hardware. Yet the 64-bit versions of Red Hat's Enterprise Linux and
Fedora both come with stable recent versions of Apache2, MySQL, and Perl,
so you could also serve your pages with 64-bit software.
Would it be worthwhile? Despite the reassurances of Red Hat technical
support and the many forum postings claiming that Fedora Core 3
works perfectly well in x86_64 mode, there is a sufficient number of
counterclaims to make it clear that not everyone has been able to run
all software without difficulty on 64-bit Linux.
Here are a couple of forum discussions to give you an idea of what's
going on.
Fedora Forum: AMD 64: 64 bit - yes or no?
http://www.fedoraforum.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-26266.html
Fedora Forum: AMD 64: Sincerely, is Fedora ready for 64 bits?
http://www.fedoraforum.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-19355.html
Here's an article that was published a few months ago, before the stable
release of Fedora Core 3, that gives some more background on the 64-bit
question.
ETH Zurich: Physics Department: Opteron aka Athlon64
http://nic.phys.ethz.ch/news/1093511266/index_html
Given that the performance advantages of 64-bit hardware have yet to be
realized to any appreciable extent in software, I do not see the appeal of
running a 64-bit operating system for anything but bragging rights. Only
the very high-end engineering, scientific, and graphics applications
need the vast memory offered by 64-bit addressing. For something less
complex such as running a web server, 32-bit computing is ample. Indeed,
since the primary consideration is reliability -- you really don't want
your web server crashing in the middle of the night -- it seems wisest
at this point to stick with a 32-bit software base. Personally, even
if I did purchase a 64-bit machine because it made for an attractive
overall hardware package, I would install the 32-bit version of Fedora
Core 3 to run mission-critical software such as a web server. I would
install the 64-bit version for personal use only.
I have enjoyed addressing this matter on your behalf. Should you feel
that any part of my answer is unclear or incorrect, please let me know
with a Clarification Request so that I have a chance to fully meet your
needs before you assign a rating.
Regards,
leapinglizard |
