How to setup yum repository in centos

By | October 10, 2013
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Yum Detailed configuration according to specific requirement:

Introduction:

YUM (Yellowdog Updater Modifier) is the package manager which contains the RPM package files for Linux. RPM package file is a Red Hat Package Manager file that enables easy software installation on Red Hat/CentOS Linux. YUM Repositories hold RPM package files and enable download and installation of new software. YUM Repositories can hold RPM package files locally (local disk) or remotely (FTP, HTTP or HTTPS). YUM Configuration files hold the information required to successfully find and install software (RPM packages files).

List of  few  CentOS  YUM Repos:

 

There are Advantages installing software from YUM Repositories basically:

  • Easy Software Management – installing, updating, and deleting packages is simple
  • Software Dependency Resolution – software dependencies are automatically resolved and installed
  • Official Red Hat/CentOS Package Manager – YUM is official Red Hat/CentOS package manager

 

Sometimes the software we need to install on our CentOS is not available from default Official CentOS Repositories. In such situations, we can use one of the additional (Non-Official) CentOS YUM Repositories listed above. Additional repositories sometimes hold newer versions of software packages than Official CentOS Repositories.

YUM Repository Configuration File

We can install new software on Red Hat/CentOS Linux with “yum install packagename” command from console. Running this command first checks for existing YUM Repository configuration files in /etc/yum.repos.d/ directory. It reads each YUM Repository configuration file to get the information required to download and install new software, resolves software dependencies and installs the required RPM package files.

YUM Repository configuration files must:

  • be located in /etc/yum.repos.d/ directory
  • have .repo extension, to be recognized by YUM

Available YUM Repository configuration file options are:

  • Repository ID – One word unique repository ID (example: [serverrepo])
  • Name – Human readable name of the repository (example: name=server Repository)
  • Enabled – Enable repository when performing updates and installs (example: enabled=1)
  • Gpgcheck – Enable/disable GPG signature checking (example: gpgcheck=1)
  • Exclude – List of the packages to exclude (example: exclude=httpd,mod_ssl)
  • Includepkgs – List of the packages to include (example: include=kernel)

Required YUM Repository configuration file options are:

  • Repository ID
  • Name
  • Baseurl
  • Enabled

Step 1: Create YUM Repository configuration file

Create a new YUM Repository configuration file with .repo extension in /etc/yum.repos.d/ directory. To create a new file with “vi editor” run the following command from console:

vi /etc/yum.repos.d/server.repo

Step 2: Input YUM Repository options

Example YUM Repository Configuration file:

/etc/yum.repos.d/server.repo

[serverrepo]

name=server Repository

baseurl=http://mirror.cisp.com/CentOS/6/os/i386/

enabled=1

gpgcheck=1

gpgkey=http://mirror.cisp.com/CentOS/6/os/i386/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-6

CentOS DVD ISO YUM Repository

CentOS DVD ISO holds a large number of software (RPM package files) which are available for installation during Red Hat/CentOS installation wizard. We can also use RPM package files from CentOS DVD ISO to create CentOS DVD ISO YUM Repository. This way we can install all of the software available on CentOS DVD ISO with “yum install packagename” command from the console even after we have completed Red Hat/CentOS installation wizard.

Step 1: Download CentOS DVD ISO

CentOS DVD ISO files are available for download at http://mirror.centos.org/. We need to download  CentOS DVD ISO to our local machine:

  • Download – We can download CentOS DVD ISO directly to our machine with “wget” command from console (please change HTTP link accordingly):

wget http://mirror.lihnidos.org/CentOS/6.4/isos/i386/CentOS-6.4-i386-LiveDVD.iso

Step 2: Mount CentOS DVD ISO

To view the CentOS DVD ISO data, we first need to mount it on desired location. We usually mount CD-ROM, USB devices or ISO files to /mnt directory (if free to use). To mount CentOS DVD ISO run the following command from console (please change /path/to/iso and /mnt accordingly):

mount -o loop /path/to/iso /mnt

Step 3: Create YUM Repository Configuration file

To start using the newly created Custom YUM Repository we must create YUM Repository Configuration file with .repo extension, which must be placed to /etc/yum.repos.d/ directory. Instructions to create YUM Repository Configuration file are covered in the first topic of this article called “YUM Repository Configuration File”.

Example CentOS DVD ISO YUM Repository Configuration file:

/etc/yum.repos.d/centosdvdiso.repo

[centosdvdiso]

name=CentOS DVD ISO

baseurl=file:///mnt

enabled=1

gpgcheck=1

gpgkey=file:///mnt/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-6

Custom YUM Repository

Sometimes we need to create a Custom YUM Repository (when the machine has no internet connection). We can create a Custom YUM Repository from a desired number of selected RPM package files. Custom YUM Repository only holds the RPM package files we want to include in.

Step 1: Install “createrepo”

To create Custom YUM Repository we need to install additional software called “createrepo” on our  server. We can install “createrepo” by running the following command from console:

yum install createrepo

Step 2: Create Repository directory

We need to create a new directory that will be the location of our Custom YUM Repository and will hold the desired RPM package files. We can do this with the following command from console (choose a different /repository1 directory name if you like):

mkdir /repository1

Step 3: Put RPM files to Repository directory

If RPM package files are not yet present on the server we need to transfer them to our server via FTP or SSH – use software like WinSCP (free SFTP client and FTP) or similar. We can also download RPM package files directly to our server (internet connection needed) with “wget” command from console (please change HTTP link accordingly):

wget http://mirror.lihnidos.org/CentOS/6/os/i386/Packages/NetworkManager-0.8.1-43.el6.i686.rpm

If RPM files are already present on the server, we need to Copy or Move these files to the newly created directory from “Step 2″. We can move RPM files with the following command from console (please change /path/to/rpm and /repository1 accordingly):

mv /path/to/rpm /repository1

We can copy RPM files with the following command from console (please change /path/to/rpm and /repository1 accordingly):

cp /path/to/rpm /repository1

Step 4: Run “createrepo”

Createrepo command reads through Custom YUM Repository directory from “Step 2″ and creates a new directory called “repodata” in it. Repodata directory holds the metadata information for the newly created repository. Every time we add additional RPM package files to our Custom YUM Repository, we need to re-create Repository metadata with “createrepo” command. We can create new repository metadata by running the following command from console (please change /repository1 accordingly):

createrepo /repository1

Step 5: Create YUM Repository Configuration file

To start using the newly created Custom YUM Repository, we must create the corresponding YUM Repository Configuration file with .repo extension, which must be placed to /etc/yum.repos.d/ directory. Instructions to create YUM Repository Configuration file are covered in the first topic of this article called “YUM Repository Configuration File”.

Example Custom YUM Repository Configuration file:

/etc/yum.repos.d/custom.repo

[customrepo]

name=Custom Repository

baseurl=file:///repository1/

enabled=1

gpgcheck=0

Following the above described specific methods, you are good to work with yum according to the required scenario

Few Examples of using YUM

1) Install a package:

yum install package

Example:

yum install httpd

2) Remove a package:

yum remove package

Example:

yum remove httpd

3) Update a package:

yum update package

Example:

yum update httpd

4) Search for a package:

yum search package

Example:

yum search httpd

5) Find information about a package:

yum info package

Example:

yum info httpd

6) List packages containing a certain term:

yum list term

Example:

yum list httpd

7) Find what package provides a particular file:

yum whatprovides ‘path/filename’

Example:

yum whatprovides ‘etc/httpd.conf’

yum whatprovides ‘*/libXp.so.6’

8) Update all installed packages with kernel package :

yum update

Example:

yum update

9) To update a specific package:

yum update <package-name>

Example:

yum update openssh-server

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