We're about to purchase a new server for our Postgres 8.4 database. Research suggests that 64bit offers little benefit to Postgres, but we'd like to go 64bit to take advantage of possible future developments.

I understand that Postgres "runs just fine" within Windows 64bit, but research hinted that related components may have trouble:


PostgreSQL vs 64-bit windows - Magnus Hagander's PostgreSQL blog

"How about the ODBC drivers for postgresql on a windows 64 bit?"

"Need 64 bit client libraries here too! Maybe there is a 'simple' way to make the 64bit client library?"


And points in this wiki page:

64bit Windows port - PostgreSQL Wiki

"64 bit applications may require a 64 bit libpq.dll."

"We'll need 64 bit builds of these support libraries - OpenSSL, libxml2"


I'm happy to run Postgres and all related components on 32bit versions. We run NpgSQL, and rely on OpenSSL.

Could someone confirm that a vanilla installation of 32bit Postgres + related components will work fine in Windows 64bit environment? We do NOT want to have to start performing our own recompilations of any components.

Thanks in advance,
-Brendan

Yeah, you'd definitely be better off using 64-bit *nix.

We run a Windows farm.

Can anyone confirm whether Postgres + add on components like NpgSql & OpenSSL 32bit versions run fine in 64bit?

Last I heard there were still some issues with some libraries like libxml2. But I don't use Windows so I don't really pay much attention. You'd be better off asking on the Pg general mailing list... unless someone else here is running it on 64-bit Windows.

OK, thanks.

I run both 64 bit and 32 bit PostgreSQL 9.0 RC1 beta on 64 Bit Vista and 64 bit Windows 7 for development. There are 64 bit libraries like libxml 2 and dependents that need porting to 64 bit Windows.

In general I can run both versions of PostgreSQL concurrently, on different ports, on the same 64 bit box and connect from pgadmin III.

The 64 bit Windows O/S has a stricter security model so I generally write code in 32 bit and test there before deploying to 64 bit for testing.

The Windows 64 Bit O/S runs 32 bit apps run under WOW64 emulation with thunking for system calls. If you are planning to run 32 bit production apps on a 64 bit box check out the MSDN site for the performance and memory limitations of WOW64.