Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 483123
No mention of Tech-Preview Status of 32-bit guest on 64-bit host in RHEL 5.2 and 5.3 release notes.
Last modified: 2009-12-14 16:22:43 EST
The Release notes for RHEL 5.1 mention the fact that running 32-bit paravirt guests on a 64-bit host is in tech preview: http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-5-manual/release-notes/RELEASE-NOTES-U1-x86_64-en.html "This update to the Virtualization feature also includes the capability to install and run paravirtualized 32-bit guests on 64-bit hosts. However, this capability is provided as a Technology Preview; as such, it is not supported for production use." There is no similar statement in the release notes of RHEL 5.2 or 5.3 even though this feature is still in tech-preview. http://www.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/5.2/html/Release_Notes/ia64/ar01s07s03.html http://www.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/5/html/Release_Notes/sect-Release_Notes-Technology_Previews.html
Assigning to release note writer. The note should be present in the RHEL 5.2 and 5.3 release notes.
Ryan, Well, we are kind of in a funny situation. RHEL-5.4 is going to make 32-bit guest on 64-bit host fully supported. So we won't need a release note in 5.4 anymore. However, should we still update the online release notes on 5.2 and 5.3 to say that it's still tech-preview on those releases? Or should we just close this and forget about it? Chris Lalancette
5.4 now fully supports 32-on-64. I'm going to close this bug out now; if someone feels we should update the online 5.2 and 5.3 release notes, feel free to reopen this bug. Chris Lalancette
In my opinion the documentation should be revised. I've encountered confusion on this question from customers in the field twice now. Users who are working with 5.3 don't think to read back to the 5.1 release notes and compare the two. Which is something you would have to do to see that this restriction still exists in 5.3. We also cannot assume that they'll read the 5.4 release notes either. I've encountered this in the field twice now. Thank you.