Kuo Kan Liang wrote:
> Hi, all,
> 
> The problem is kind of long and complicated.
> 
> I installed SL4.1 i386 on my cluster. All of the computers come with 2 
> xeon.
> The server is also connected to a SATA-SCSI raid through an LSI scsi card.
> At that time I could not connect to the raid successfully and I thought 
> it was the
> problem of the OS, so, according to some suggestions, I changed the OS to
> SL 4.1 x86_64 version. But it turns out that the disk problem was mainly 
> due to
> old SCSI card firmware. After updating the firmware, the raid problem was
> solved.
> 
> However, when I tried to install Intel Compilers and MPICH2, I ran into 
> big trouble.
> If I use icc and ifort, when I configured MPICH2, it will complain that 
> icc cannot
> create C programs that run. If I use gcc instead of icc, I can make MPICH2,
> but the Fortran 90 example programs cannot be made.
> I looked into the error, it seems that icc and ifort created obj files 
> with different
> object type than the library files made from compiling MPICH2.
> Due to my limited knowledge in these aspects, I finally gave up using 
> Intel compilers.
> I turned into using gcc, g77 and g95 as my compilers, which generate 
> much slower
> executables than using icc and ifort.
> 
> To have a working MPICH2 with Intel compilers, do I have to reinstall my system
> with SL i386 version? 

I don't know enough about the compilers, so I can't really answer this 
question.

> Will >2TB disk partition be accepted by the i386 Linux?

Yes.  I believe it will work in S.L. 4.x, but it isn't in the release 
notes until S.L. 4.2.  So S.L. 4.2 i386 will do up to 8 TB.

> If both answers were 'yes', then what is the fastest way to reinstall SL 
> 4.[12] i386
> over SL 4.1 x86_64? Do I always have to totally remove the x86_64 Linux
> and install everything again?
> 

Personally, I would.  I believe the time it takes to try to convert is 
longer than the time to backup, re-install, and restore.  Plus I'd be 
concerned about something just not being right.

BUT ... that being said.  I have to say this is a tick I've never tried, 
but if I were to try it, I would first point yum to an i386 yum 
repository, and then install the i386 kernel, along with whatever else 
comes along.  I'd double check to make sure I had the i386 glibc stuff, 
then reboot into the i386 kernel.
Once in the i386 kernel, I'd remove the x86_64 kernel, which should 
strip alot of the x86_64 out.  I'd then use yum to remove the rest of 
the x86_64 stuff.
THEN ... I'd get the /root/install.log, reformat it a bit, and then do a 
  'cat install.log ; while read line ; do ; yum -y install $line ; done'

Anyway ... as I said, I really wouldn't do that except just to say it 
could be done.  If you're serious at all about stability and wanting the 
machine to run correctly, I'd reinstall.

By the way, a co-worker say's he'd install all the 32 bit stuff first 
(probrubly doing the 'cat install.log ....' thing) and THEN boot into 
the i386 kernel.

Both agree that we wouldn't really want to do this though.

Troy

-- 
__________________________________________________
Troy Dawson  [log in to unmask]  (630)840-6468
Fermilab  ComputingDivision/CSS  CSI Group
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