Moving to a 64-bit OS/JVM

posted by SpringSource on April 7, 2010 01:55 PM

64bit operating systems are very common for Tomcat deployments today, while 32-bit JVMs are still used with these OSes.

There is absolutely no risk moving to such a platform.  64bit JVMs are also common, but are only used when the applications require lots of memory space, to go over the 32bit memory barrier

Moving Tomcat to either 

• OS/64 JVM/64 or
• OS/64 JVM/32

is not an issue. It has been proven in numerous enterprise environments.

What you do need to consider is that if you use native library you must compile that library in accordance to what JVM you are using.  For instance, if you are using a 64-bit JVM, then you would need to compile OpenSSL, APR, APR-UTIL and TCNATIVE in 64bit, and if you use a 32bit JVM, you would need to compile those bits with a 32-bit compiler.

If you are not using native libraries, then you don't have anything to worry about.

Most common combinations SpringSource sees today, is OS/64 and JVM/32

For more than 10 years, SpringSource employees have been supporting Apache technologies, with unparalleled experience and commitment to the Apache Software Foundation. More than 400 of the Fortune 500 count on SpringSource to support their mission-critical business applications. Leaders of the Apache Software Foundation, including Board Members, work at SpringSource and dedicate a significant amount of time further developing the Apache Tomcat open source project. Over the last 2 years, 95% of the issues fixed in the Apache Tomcat project were fixed by SpringSource engineers. For more information on how SpringSource can help your enterprise, see the SpringSource website, or call 800/444-1935.