How to disable Hardware Lock Elision

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Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 (SLES 12)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 Service Pack 1 (SLES 12 SP1)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 Service Pack 2 (SLES 12 SP2)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 Service Pack 3 (SLES 12 SP3)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 Service Pack 4 (SLES 12 SP4)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 Service Pack 5 (SLES 12 SP5)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 (SLES 15)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 Service Pack 1 (SLES 15 SP1)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 Service Pack 2 (SLES 15 SP2)

Situation

Some third-party applications installed on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, may require that the 'Hardware Lock Elision' functionality is disabled.

Resolution

Temporary solution: Add the appropriate noelision path statement to the beginning of the library load path (LD_LIBRARY_PATH) so that the noelision libraries are used in preference to any others appearing later in the path

e.g. export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/lib64/noelision/:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

                                  On server reboot, this change will be lost.

Permanent solution: Create file /etc/ld.so.conf.d/noelision.conf

                                 Add the appropriate line: e.g.   /lib64/noelision

                                 After saving the noelision.conf changes, run `ldconfig` to rebuild caches.

Cause

There is a bug in some Intel CPUs which does not handle the Hardware Lock Elision correctly.

Additional Information

Oracle grid software is susceptible to this CPU bug. If elision locking is not disabled on servers with such faulty CPUs, Oracle may crash during initialization.

The 'noelision' 32 bit and 64 bit libraries are found here:-

   /lib/noelision
   /lib64/noelision

NOTE: Make sure that /etc/ld.so.conf includes the /etc/ld.so.conf.d/ directory (default) or add the directory you want to be included (the directory where you placed the noelision.conf file)   * it is recommended to keep everything under /etc/ld.so.conf.d/

NOTE: The files present in the directories listed in /etc/ld.so.conf are applied in alpha-numerical file name order. You need to be aware of what is in each file, in each of the included directories, to make sure that the desired settings are being applied and not 'overwritten' or ignored.

Disclaimer

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