How to Determine Whether a System Has 64-bit Solaris Capabilities Enabled

You can use the isainfo command to determine whether a system has 64-bit capabilities enabled, which means the system is booted with the 64-bit kernel.

Examples--Determining Whether a System Has 64-bit Solaris Capabilities Enabled

An UltraSPARC system running a 32-bit kernel looks like this:

$ isainfo -v
32-bit sparc applications

The output means this system is capable of supporting only 32-bit applications.

An UltraSPARC system running a 64-bit kernel looks like this:

 $ isainfo -v 
64-bit sparcv9 applications 
32-bit sparc applications

This output means this system is capable of supporting both 32-bit and 64-bit applications.

Use the isainfo -b command to display the number of bits supported by native applications on the running system.

The output from a SPARC, IA, or UltraSPARC system running the 32-bit Solaris operating environment looks like this:

$ isainfo -b
32  

The output from a 64-bit UltraSPARC system running the 64-bit Solaris operating environment looks like:

$ isainfo -b
64

The command returns 64 only. Even though a 64-bit UltraSPARC system is capable of running both types of applications, 64-bit applications are the best kind of applications to run on a 64-bit system.

The uname -p output remains sparc or i386 to ensure that existing 32-bit applications continue to run without interruption.