Ever been handed a new server only to wonder whether it is 32-bit or 64-bit? Well, it is rather simple to tell without having to ask! On a Linux server one of the following commands could just give you the answer very easily!

We remember being given a supposed "64-bit" server once and being assured by a manager that it was "definitely" 64-bit. After trying a few times to install a MySQL binary, it became obvious something was wrong. We checked and sure enough the "64-bit" server was actually "32-bit!"

If you want to be sure, the easiest thing to do is run the "gentconf" utility in Linux:

getconf LONG_BIT

The above will display either 32 or 64. It doesn't get any easier than that!

Another method is below though this output is less obvious:

uname -m

You might also want to check all of the output of the "uname" command which can give you some great information!

uname -a

Anyway, that's it for this post. If you have any other great simple methods, let us know. We would love
to hear about them!