I have a production server with 16GB of RAM that came with a 32bit CentOS installation.
The website hosted on this server is getting increasing amounts of traffic every day, which has led to some some MySQL performance issues. I ran mysqltuner.pl
and got the following messages:
[!!] Switch to 64-bit OS - MySQL cannot currently use all of your RAM
*** MySQL's maximum memory usage is dangerously high ***
*** Add RAM before increasing MySQL buffer variables ***
Can I survive with the 32 bit OS, or do I need have to install the 64 bit version?
Best Answer
You can survive just fine with the 32 bit CentOS install. But, like the warning says, using a 32 bit OS means that MySQL can't actually use all (or even most of) the RAM installed in the system.
Seems like a waste to me. If the hardware supports 64-bit, I'd certainly replace the 32 bit OS with a 64 bit one, yeah. You'd probably want to do some testing first, and/or use a second server to find out what's going to break when you switch OSes, because something always does.
Strictly speaking, you don't need to install a 64 bit OS, but you definitely should. And probably sooner, rather than later, before the RAM limitations of a 32 bit OS start causing you problems.