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64-bit? 1
- Thread starter QAteste
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I got the following info from the Tips for AIX administrators area of the IBM site. It might be more info than you want, but...
You must have 64-bit hardware to run 64-bit applications. At AIX levels 4.3.2 and 4.3.3, to determine whether your system has 32-bit or 64-bit hardware architecture:
Log in as root.
At the command line, enter:
bootinfo -y
This produces the output of either 32 or 64, depending on whether the hardware architecture is 32-bit or 64-bit.
In addition, if you enter lsattr -El proc0, at any version of AIX, the output of the command should return the type of processor for your server.
The types of 64-bit processors are as follows:
PowerPC_RS64
PowerPC_RS64 II
PowerPC_RS64 III
PowerPC_Power3
PowerPC_Power3 II
If your hardware supports the 64-bit environment, then you'll have to make sure the filesets are loaded.
Filesets needed
The bos.64bit is the Base Operating System 64-bit runtime fileset. If bos.64bit is not installed, you do not have the /etc/methods/cfg64 file. Without the /etc/methods/cfg64 file, you will not have the option of enabling or disabling the 64-bit environment via SMIT, which updates the inittab with the load64bit line (simply adding this line does not enable the 64-bit environment).
The command
lslpp -l bos.64bit
will reveal if this fileset is installed. The bos.64bit fileset is on the 4.3.x media, however, installing it does not ensure that you will be able to run 64-bit software.
With the bos.64bit fileset installed on non 64-bit hardware, you should be able to compile your 64-bit software; however, you will not be able to run 64-bit programs on your 32-bit hardware.
Kernel extensions vs. 64-bit kernel
To determine if the 64-bit kernel extension is loaded, from the command line enter:
genkex |grep 64
You should see information similar to the following:
149bf58 a3ec /usr/lib/drivers/syscalls64.ext
NOTE: Having the driver extensions, does not mean that the kernel is a 64-bit kernel. A 64-Bit Kernel became available at 5.1 oslevel.
The driver extensions just allows the 64-bit application to be compiled by a 32-bit kernel. If the 32-bit kernel has a 64-bit processor, the syscalls64.ext will allow the 64-bit application to execute. Yet at 5.1, a 64-bit kernel and a 64-bit processor has better performance with 64-bit applications.
To truly change the kernel to 64-bit, you need to be at the 5.1 oslevel. The means to change to a 64-bit kernel are:
From 32-bit to 64-bit:
ln -sf /usr/lib/boot/unix_64 /unix
ln -sf /usr/lib/boot/unix_64 /usr/lib/boot/unix
lslv -m hd5
bosboot -ad /dev/ipldevice
shutdown -Fr
To change the kernel back to 32-bit:
From 64-bit to 32-bit:
ln -sf /usr/lib/boot/unix_mp /unix
ln -sf /usr/lib/boot/unix_mp /usr/lib/boot/unix
lslv -m hd5
bosboot -ad /dev/ipldevice
shutdown -Fr
Hope this helps more than it confuses.
-Anjin
You must have 64-bit hardware to run 64-bit applications. At AIX levels 4.3.2 and 4.3.3, to determine whether your system has 32-bit or 64-bit hardware architecture:
Log in as root.
At the command line, enter:
bootinfo -y
This produces the output of either 32 or 64, depending on whether the hardware architecture is 32-bit or 64-bit.
In addition, if you enter lsattr -El proc0, at any version of AIX, the output of the command should return the type of processor for your server.
The types of 64-bit processors are as follows:
PowerPC_RS64
PowerPC_RS64 II
PowerPC_RS64 III
PowerPC_Power3
PowerPC_Power3 II
If your hardware supports the 64-bit environment, then you'll have to make sure the filesets are loaded.
Filesets needed
The bos.64bit is the Base Operating System 64-bit runtime fileset. If bos.64bit is not installed, you do not have the /etc/methods/cfg64 file. Without the /etc/methods/cfg64 file, you will not have the option of enabling or disabling the 64-bit environment via SMIT, which updates the inittab with the load64bit line (simply adding this line does not enable the 64-bit environment).
The command
lslpp -l bos.64bit
will reveal if this fileset is installed. The bos.64bit fileset is on the 4.3.x media, however, installing it does not ensure that you will be able to run 64-bit software.
With the bos.64bit fileset installed on non 64-bit hardware, you should be able to compile your 64-bit software; however, you will not be able to run 64-bit programs on your 32-bit hardware.
Kernel extensions vs. 64-bit kernel
To determine if the 64-bit kernel extension is loaded, from the command line enter:
genkex |grep 64
You should see information similar to the following:
149bf58 a3ec /usr/lib/drivers/syscalls64.ext
NOTE: Having the driver extensions, does not mean that the kernel is a 64-bit kernel. A 64-Bit Kernel became available at 5.1 oslevel.
The driver extensions just allows the 64-bit application to be compiled by a 32-bit kernel. If the 32-bit kernel has a 64-bit processor, the syscalls64.ext will allow the 64-bit application to execute. Yet at 5.1, a 64-bit kernel and a 64-bit processor has better performance with 64-bit applications.
To truly change the kernel to 64-bit, you need to be at the 5.1 oslevel. The means to change to a 64-bit kernel are:
From 32-bit to 64-bit:
ln -sf /usr/lib/boot/unix_64 /unix
ln -sf /usr/lib/boot/unix_64 /usr/lib/boot/unix
lslv -m hd5
bosboot -ad /dev/ipldevice
shutdown -Fr
To change the kernel back to 32-bit:
From 64-bit to 32-bit:
ln -sf /usr/lib/boot/unix_mp /unix
ln -sf /usr/lib/boot/unix_mp /usr/lib/boot/unix
lslv -m hd5
bosboot -ad /dev/ipldevice
shutdown -Fr
Hope this helps more than it confuses.
-Anjin
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