Switch from 32bit to 64bit in running environment

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01-05-2009, 12:53 AM
Laxity

Switch from 32bit to 64bit in running environment

Hi

I just read the known issues of the lastest build:

Quote:

• 64bit system configuration is not preserved after update. If you use 64bit system, please change 32bit to 64bit manually. When system boots after POST (Power on Self Test), please press the ESC or TAB key in order to enter into the Boot menu. Please select 64bit system. Once the system is up and running please press "hot-key" CTRL+ALT+T in the system Console and then select: Boot options-->Select system architecture, use the spacebar to mark the desired 64bit system and Apply. Then select Save changes to make this permanent.

I checked my two servers: both are running in 32bit mode, CPU is 64bit Intel.
So I might change them to 64bit I thought. As this might give me the advantage of Intel IO/AT

I rebooted the slaveserver and put it into 64bit mode.
On the management web interface I got many errors.. "No system partition" etc. I was not able to control any storage stuff.. After a reboot and rollback to 32bit mode, everything was fine again..

My question:
Is it safe to put both DSS servers into 64Bit mode if they where configured to be 32bit before?
What is the procedure to do this?

Thanks in advance!
Regards, Laxity
03-19-2009, 06:26 PM
Laxity

No answer yet :(

Is this possible with the new update you released yesterday?
2009-03-18 v.5.00 up60 b.3511
03-19-2009, 06:29 PM
Robotbeat

In my experience, you have to recreate everything if you switch to 64-bit.
03-19-2009, 11:23 PM
Laxity

Thank you Robotbeat! I wish someone told us before... we might have chosen emc2 long ago.. It seems they dont have these "beta" problems. But now we are stuck with open-E for a while...
03-20-2009, 11:26 AM
jmo

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laxity

Hi
[...]I rebooted the slaveserver and put it into 64bit mode.
On the management web interface I got many errors.. "No system partition" etc. I was not able to control any storage stuff.. After a reboot and rollback to 32bit mode, everything was fine again..

My question:
Is it safe to put both DSS servers into 64Bit mode if they where configured to be 32bit before?
What is the procedure to do this?

Thanks in advance!
Regards, Laxity

Laxity,

during a phone call with an open-e engineer a few months ago, I asked similar questions.

Switching to 64bit kernel is insufficient, you need to convert the files systems to 64bit mode as well, which was said to be a matter of minutes and had to be done via options of the service console.

Our need to switch to 64 bit mode has not been driving enough to take those steps, so I can neither comment on the procedure nor the outcome, but would welcome myself a kb article on the required steps, including a description of the risks involved (were said to be close to none) and fall-back procedures.

Regards,
Jens
03-20-2009, 03:59 PM
Robotbeat

I found a knowledge base article about switching from 32-bit and 64-bit: http://kb.open-e.com/entry/158/

It says that you basically have to recreate all the volumes. Perhaps, though, it is possible to convert them, but I've never done it.
03-20-2009, 11:30 PM
To-M

Robotbeat is correct, we plan to have a conversion tool sometime after the next release.
03-20-2009, 11:36 PM
To-M

I needed to expand on this more - sorry just busy....

We did have this conversion tool but we stoped it because we saw some issues - not in all casses.

Currently you will have to backup the data then recreate the Volume or wait until after the next release.
08-08-2012, 04:35 PM
Al-S

The small update related to this issue named (0820-DSS_V6 - use 32bit volumes on 64bit kernel ), but we still recommend to go with the first way, to backup your data, then create new volume using 64bit, and restore your data to it.