[CentOS] 64-bit CentOS - your experience

[nate]

przemolicc at poczta.fm wrote:
> Hello,
>
> one of our developers is developing his Web applications (PHP-based+MySql)
> on 64-bit Fedora. He would like to use the same, 64-bit environment on
> CentOS. I am not against 64-bits (we use it for many, many years using
> Solaris) but what concerns me is the stability of 64-bit Linux. Can you
> share your experience regarding stability of 32-bit and 64-bit CentOS ? Does
> anybody use 64-bit CentOS in production (web applications) environment ?

It's really only as stable as your hardware is. Our web servers as
a whole are primarily 64-bit CentOS (some older RHEL 3/4 32/64bit
systems too), serve about 2 billion requests a day. The only
stability issues are many of the older systems are..old(most
are 3-4 years old), sometimes they crash. We're 1/3rd the way
through replacing all of the older gear with new stuff though
and cutting the # of systems by a good chunk.

If you want a stable system just be sure to get stable hardware,
HP and IBM seem to be the best as far as being bulletproof(as you
can get for x86). Dell's quality on the other hand is significantly
lower(primarily due to their built to order model and sourcing parts
from multiple vendors with lacking quality controls, cheaper prices
but you get what you pay for). And of course the various whitebox
vendors out there have varying levels of quality control.

But stability of the OS itself, provided you stick to the base
install and don't install 3rd party kernel modules, stay away from
3rd party repositories unless you really know what you are doing,
your system will be as stable as the hardware it runs on.

The new HP DL165G6 systems seem like great little (cheap)web
servers, I should have one soon to test, though I'd still
prefer a DL385G6.

Most of what we run today is Dell(just got 40 new R610s),
though that sounds like it will be changing(yay).

nate