How to Tell if the Oracle Software is 32-Bit or 64-BitOn a UNIX system

How to Tell if the Oracle Software is 32-Bit or 64-Bit on a UNIX system, there are different ways to tell if the software is 32 or 64 bit.

1. Type:
%cd $ORACLE_HOME/bin
%$ORACLE_HOME/bin> file oracleFor example, on a Sun Solaris machine you will see:
oracle: ELF 32-bit MSB executable SPARC Version 1, dynamically linked, not stripped
OR
oracle: ELF 64-bit MSB executable SPARCV9 Version 1, dynamically linked, not strippedThe operating system "file" command is available on most Unix machines such as Sun, HP and Dec. If the output of the "file oracle" command does not say 64-bit explicitly then you are running 32-bit Oracle.

2. You run SQLPLUS (or SVRMGRL in 8i) and the banner specifies 64bit :
$ sqlplus sys/sys as sysdba
SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Production on Tue Jan 23 13:23:58 2007
Copyright (c) 1982, 2005, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Connected to: Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production With the Partitioning, OLAP and Data Mining options

[tchp1]/u04/home/rsupport> svrmgrl How to Tell if the Oracle Software is 32-Bit or 64-BitOn a UNIX system, there are different ways to tell if the software is 32 or 64 bit.

1. Type:
%cd $ORACLE_HOME/bin
%$ORACLE_HOME/bin> file oracleFor example, on a Sun Solaris machine you will see:
oracle: ELF 32-bit MSB executable SPARC Version 1, dynamically linked, not stripped
OR
oracle: ELF 64-bit MSB executable SPARCV9 Version 1, dynamically linked, not strippedThe operating system "file" command is available on most Unix machines such as Sun, HP and Dec. If the output of the "file oracle" command does not say 64-bit explicitly then you are running 32-bit Oracle.

2. You run SQLPLUS (or SVRMGRL in 8i) and the banner specifies 64bit :
$ sqlplus sys/sys as sysdba
SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Production on Tue Jan 23 13:23:58 2007
Copyright (c) 1982, 2005, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Connected to: Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production With the Partitioning, OLAP and Data Mining options

[tchp1]/u04/home/rsupport> svrmgrl
Oracle Server Manager Release 3.0.5.0.0 - Production
(c) Copyright 1997, Oracle Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Oracle8 Enterprise Edition Release 8.0.5.2.1 64bit - Production With the Partitioning and Objects options PL/SQL Release 8.0.5.2.0 - Production3. A query of v$version shows the same information:

SQL> select * from v$version;
BANNER ---------------------------------------------------------------- Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.1.0 - 64bi PL/SQL Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Production CORE 10.2.0.1.0 Production TNS for Solaris: Version 10.2.0.1.0 - Production NLSRTL Version 10.2.0.1.0 - Production

SVRMGR> select * from v$version;
BANNER ---------------------------------------------------------------- Oracle8 Enterprise Edition Release 8.0.5.0.0, 64bit - Productio PL/SQL Release 8.0.5.0.0 - Production CORE Version 4.0.5.0.0 - Production TNS for IBM/AIX RISC System/6000: Version 8.0.5.0.0 - Production NLSRTL Version 3.3.2.0.0 - Production 5 rows selected.
SVRMGR>
The examples above show that the Oracle database software version is 64-bit. If the software is 32-bit, then "64bit" would not be present in either example above.
A 64-bit operating system can support either a 32-bit database or a 64-bit database. A 32-bit operating system cannot support a 64-bit database.
Please Note: On a platform where we only offer 64-bit Oracle, such as Compaq Tru64, selecting from v$version or looking at the banner page of Server Manager does NOT show the value of 64-bit even though 64-bit is (must) being used.

4. A query from v$process
SQL> select distinct(length(addr)*4) "Word Size" from v$process;If 64 Bit then output will be:Word Size---------- 64
If 32 Bit the output will be :Word Size---------- 32
For 32 Bit the ADDR column type in v$process will be RAW(4) and for 64 Bit the clomn type will be RAW(8)To find whether the installed client is 32 bit or 64 bit , refer the Note 434295.1 : How To Find If The Oracle Client Software Is 32-Bit Or 64-Bit ?