April 21st, 2010

Full 32-bit Images Now Supported

Today, Slicehost is excited to announce that we now support the following full 32-bit images:

  • Fedora 12 32-bit
  • Gentoo 10.1 32-bit
  • CentOS 5.4 32-bit
  • Debian 5.0 Lenny 32-bit
  • Ubuntu 8.04.2 (Hardy) LTS 32-bit
  • Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty) 32-bit
  • Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic) 32-bit

The new images are readily available in our STL-B, DFW and ORD data centers.

In order to take advantage of these offerings, you can either rebuild your current slice or opt to use the 'Add A Slice' feature under the 'My Slices' tab in the SliceManager.

We understand there may be some questions regarding these images, so please allow me to answer a few of them:

Q. What's the difference between these new 32-bit images and the the ones we previously provided?

A. Prior to the release of these full 32-bit images, each BETA 32-bit instance ran a 64-bit kernel. This caused the odd amount of confusion with some package managers and other software.

These new instances will allow you to run a full 32-bit Linux image - that is to say, a 32-bit kernel and a 32-bit userland.

Q. What happens if I am already running a slice that uses the previously provided 32-bit instances?

A. Your instances will not be affected by this change. You can continue running your mixed instance for as long as you need to. However, it's recommended you update to the 32-bit kernel that is available via the SliceManager. This will provide you will the full 32-bit experience.

Q. What if I currently have a slices located in STL-A, but would like to take advantage of this offer as well?

A. If you would like to build a 32-bit instance but currently have slices located in STL-A, we would be happy to build a slice for you in one of our other DCs. Simply contact our support team by submitting a request through the SliceManager and we'll get you a new Slice in just a few minutes.

If you experience any issues or have any further questions regarding these images, please visit us in SliceChat, open a ticket or drop us a line at support@slicehost.com.

Posted by Mark Filed in Rackspace, slicehost, software, virtualization

5 Comments

  1. April 21st, 2010 at 09:11 PM Kyle Hotchkiss

    Hey! Love to hear the forward motion y’all seem to constantly being going with!

  2. April 22nd, 2010 at 08:44 AM Justin

    I never thought I’d be happy to see someone providing a service that is half what is already provided (come on, 64/32 is kind of half).

    I’ve been trying to run a 32 bit OEM search application for ages, and now I can!

    Easy downgrade path?

  3. April 22nd, 2010 at 10:53 AM Rowan

    @Justin

    Depends on your idea of easy, you will have to make a new slice, install all your apps, copy your configurations and files over then move your domains (or possibly get slicehost to swap the ip addresses if it’s in the same data centre, I don’t know if they do that). You can’t just switch from 64 bit to 32 bit.

  4. April 22nd, 2010 at 04:10 PM Martha

    This is what I have been waiting for! Thank you Slicehost.

  5. April 23rd, 2010 at 04:35 PM Chris

    Good to hear you’re furthering your support for more diverse server environments… even if I’ll never use a 32-bit server environment again.

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