Create an Nginx-based YUM/DNF repository on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
Software repositories are usually used over the internet and can be accessed by multiple users worldwide. However, you can create your own local repository on your local server and use it as a single user, or allow access to other machines on your LAN using a web server or FTP.
The advantage of creating a local repository is that you don’t require an internet connection to install software packages or updates. Another benefit is, of course, the download speed. Since the packages are downloaded via a local network, the updates perform quickly.
Yellowdog Updater, Modified (YUM) or Dandified YUM (DNF) are software package managers that manage RPM-based Linux distributions. With YUM or DNF, you can install and update groups of computers without having to manually update each RPM.
In this article, I will explain how to set up a local web-based YUM/DNF repository on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8, using the installation DVD or ISO file. I will also show you how to find and install software packages on client RHEL 8 machines using the Nginx HTTP server and the Apache web servers. For Apache instructions, see Create your own Apache-based YUM/DNF repository on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and for FTP instructions, see Create your own FTP-based YUM/DNF repository on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.
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Prerequisites
You will need to set up two Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 systems: one local repo server and one client machine that will use the local repository from the local server. The result will look something like this:
-
Local Repository Server: RHEL 8 [10.0.0.10]
-
Local Client Machine: RHEL 8 [10.0.0.11]
-
RHEL 8 installation DVD
-
Nginx HTTP server
Create your repository
Creating your repository involves a number of steps. I'll walk you through them.
Step 1: Mount the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 media
First, mount the local media (the DVD, USB stick, etc.) that contains Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8. Use the installation DVD:
$ sudo mount /dev/cdrom /mnt
mount: /mnt: WARNING: device write-protected, mounted read-only.
Or mount the ISO image:
$ sudo mount -o loop rhel-8.0-x86_64-dvd.iso /mnt
Step 2: Create a local YUM repository from the mounted media
Move the existing repo files located in /etc/yum.repos.d:
$ sudo mv /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo /tmp/
From this point, it is better if you continue as the root user. Switch to superuser with su command.
Next, create a directory for the repo:
# mkdir /local_repo
Use this directory with Nginx or Apache for serving files over the LAN.
Create the new local repository’s configuration file, local-dvdrom.repo, under the /etc/yum.repos.d directory:
# touch /etc/yum.repos.d/local-dvdrom.repo
# chmod u+rw,g+r,o+r /etc/yum.repos.d/local-dvdrom.repo
Step 3: Copy media content to the local directory
Copy the ISO files locally under the /local_repo directory:
# cd /mnt
# tar cvf - . | (cd /local_repo/; tar xvf -)
Wait until the files are copied, then verify the files were copied using:
# ls -l /local_repo/
total 56
dr-xr-xr-x. 4 root root 38 Apr 4 2019 AppStream
dr-xr-xr-x. 4 root root 38 Apr 4 2019 BaseOS
dr-xr-xr-x. 3 root root 18 Apr 4 2019 EFI
-r--r--r--. 1 root root 8266 Mar 1 2019 EULA
-r--r--r--. 1 root root 1455 Apr 4 2019 extra_files.json
-r--r--r--. 1 root root 18092 Mar 1 2019 GPL
dr-xr-xr-x. 3 root root 76 Apr 4 2019 images
dr-xr-xr-x. 2 root root 256 Apr 4 2019 isolinux
-r--r--r--. 1 root root 103 Apr 4 2019 media.repo
-r--r--r--. 1 root root 1669 Mar 1 2019 RPM-GPG-KEY-redhat-beta
-r--r--r--. 1 root root 5134 Mar 1 2019 RPM-GPG-KEY-redhat-release
-r--r--r--. 1 root root 1796 Apr 4 2019 TRANS.TBL
Step 4: Configure the local YUM/DNF repository
Edit the repo configuration file you created earlier:
# vim /etc/yum.repos.d/local-dvdrom.repo
Paste this configuration into it:
[LocalRepo_BaseOS]
name=LocalRepo_BaseOS
metadata_expire=-1
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
baseurl=file:///local_repo/BaseOS/
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-redhat-release
[LocalRepo_AppStream]
name=LocalRepo_AppStream
metadata_expire=-1
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
baseurl=file:///local_repo/AppStream/
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-redhat-release
Install the required packages for creating, configuring and managing the local repository:
# yum repolist
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
Unable to read consumer identity
This system is not registered to Red Hat Subscription Management. You can use subscription-manager to register.
LocalRepo_AppStream 94 MB/s | 5.3 MB 00:00
LocalRepo_BaseOS 97 MB/s | 2.2 MB 00:00
repo id repo name status
LocalRepo_AppStream LocalRepo_AppStream 4,672
LocalRepo_BaseOS LocalRepo_BaseOS 1,658
# yum install createrepo yum-utils
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
Unable to read consumer identity
This system is not registered to Red Hat Subscription Management. You can use subscription-manager to register.
Last metadata expiration check: 0:02:33 ago on Sat 05 Oct 2019 09:52:46 PM UTC.
Package dnf-utils-4.0.2.2-3.el8.noarch is already installed.
Dependencies resolved.
================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
================================================================================
Installing:
createrepo_c x86_64 0.11.0-1.el8 LocalRepo_AppStream 76 k
Installing dependencies:
createrepo_c-libs x86_64 0.11.0-1.el8 LocalRepo_AppStream 101 k
drpm x86_64 0.3.0-14.el8 LocalRepo_AppStream 71 k
Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install 3 Packages
Total size: 249 k
Installed size: 556 k
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
Running transaction check
Transaction check succeeded.
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded.
Running transaction
Preparing : 1/1
Installing : drpm-0.3.0-14.el8.x86_64 1/3
Installing : createrepo_c-libs-0.11.0-1.el8.x86_64 2/3
Installing : createrepo_c-0.11.0-1.el8.x86_64 3/3
Running scriptlet: createrepo_c-0.11.0-1.el8.x86_64 3/3
Verifying : createrepo_c-0.11.0-1.el8.x86_64 1/3
Verifying : createrepo_c-libs-0.11.0-1.el8.x86_64 2/3
Verifying : drpm-0.3.0-14.el8.x86_64 3/3
Installed products updated.
Installed:
createrepo_c-0.11.0-1.el8.x86_64 createrepo_c-libs-0.11.0-1.el8.x86_64
drpm-0.3.0-14.el8.x86_64
Complete!
Finally, run the createrepo command:
# createrepo /local_repo/
Directory walk started
Directory walk done - 6647 packages
Temporary output repo path: /local_repo/.repodata/
Preparing sqlite DBs
Pool started (with 5 workers)
Pool finished
Step 5: Test and verify your local repository
In this step, you clean up the temporary repository files and verify that the local repository is enabled:
# yum clean all
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
Unable to read consumer identity
This system is not registered to Red Hat Subscription Management. You can use subscription-manager to register.
12 files removed
# yum repolist
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
Unable to read consumer identity
This system is not registered to Red Hat Subscription Management. You can use subscription-manager to register.
LocalRepo_AppStream 120 MB/s | 5.3 MB 00:00
LocalRepo_BaseOS 103 MB/s | 2.2 MB 00:00
repo id repo name status
LocalRepo_AppStream LocalRepo_AppStream 4,672
LocalRepo_BaseOS LocalRepo_BaseOS 1,658
Verify that the local repository was created:
# ls /local_repo/repodata/
26617821a5263fb13c7a49cc5e2d0b979b926eb17b9b4ed0b7df624e04c272f2-other.sqlite.bz2
5626e6dd41648dc6395def6889f4cc0e7f1006bb7d7eca748c9abd4c67fa5b9b-other.xml.gz
6290a72e46a90f98896c14f7664440de10c798d158ce0afe5f15a9f3896b7824-primary.xml.gz
a5c265589796231ed91b8b25a0473d05915bf62496495a004d321d042b26360c-filelists.sqlite.bz2
c8b51f43bdaa4f14cd5b083851cef1068e9284fa6557eb4552ba2ae22e7f72d5-primary.sqlite.bz2
ed21f77d28e263df02739a4bd55eb7247ffd0531c871bfe677d4b205dbffd5e8-filelists.xml.gz
repomd.xml
You can see that the local repository generated files, so everything is ok at this point.
If you read the above command output carefully, you get the warning message, This system is not registered to Red Hat Subscription Management. You can use subscription-manager to register. If you want to suppress or prevent this message while running the dnf or yum command then edit the file /etc/yum/pluginconf.d/subscription-manager.conf:
# vim /etc/yum/pluginconf.d/subscription-manager.conf
and change the parameter enabled=1 to enabled=0:
[main]
enabled=0
Set up your Nginx HTTP server
As I mentioned before, this article covers setting up your own repository using the Nginx HTTP server. I'll walk you through installing and configuring Nginx to serve your repo.
Install Nginx
To install the Nginx HTTP server using YUM:
# yum install nginx
Last metadata expiration check: 0:19:18 ago on Sun 06 Oct 2019 09:51:22 AM UTC.
Dependencies resolved.
=======================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
=======================================================================================
Installing:
nginx x86_64 1:1.14.1-8.module+el8+2505+fe936cef LocalRepo_AppStream 569 k
Installing dependencies:
gd x86_64 2.2.5-6.el8 LocalRepo_AppStream 144 k
jbigkit-libs x86_64 2.1-14.el8 LocalRepo_AppStream 55 k
libX11 x86_64 1.6.7-1.el8 LocalRepo_AppStream 612 k
libX11-common noarch 1.6.7-1.el8 LocalRepo_AppStream 157 k
libXau x86_64 1.0.8-13.el8 LocalRepo_AppStream 36 k
libXpm x86_64 3.5.12-7.el8 LocalRepo_AppStream 58 k
libjpeg-turbo x86_64 1.5.3-7.el8 LocalRepo_AppStream 155 k
libtiff x86_64 4.0.9-13.el8 LocalRepo_AppStream 188 k
libwebp x86_64 1.0.0-1.el8 LocalRepo_AppStream 273 k
libxcb x86_64 1.13-5.el8 LocalRepo_AppStream 230 k
nginx-all-modules
noarch 1:1.14.1-8.module+el8+2505+fe936cef LocalRepo_AppStream 23 k
nginx-filesystem noarch 1:1.14.1-8.module+el8+2505+fe936cef LocalRepo_AppStream 24 k
nginx-mod-http-image-filter
x86_64 1:1.14.1-8.module+el8+2505+fe936cef LocalRepo_AppStream 34 k
nginx-mod-http-perl
x86_64 1:1.14.1-8.module+el8+2505+fe936cef LocalRepo_AppStream 45 k
nginx-mod-http-xslt-filter
x86_64 1:1.14.1-8.module+el8+2505+fe936cef LocalRepo_AppStream 33 k
nginx-mod-mail x86_64 1:1.14.1-8.module+el8+2505+fe936cef LocalRepo_AppStream 64 k
nginx-mod-stream x86_64 1:1.14.1-8.module+el8+2505+fe936cef LocalRepo_AppStream 85 k
dejavu-fonts-common
noarch 2.35-6.el8 LocalRepo_BaseOS 74 k
dejavu-sans-fonts
noarch 2.35-6.el8 LocalRepo_BaseOS 1.5 M
fontconfig x86_64 2.13.1-3.el8 LocalRepo_BaseOS 275 k
fontpackages-filesystem
noarch 1.44-22.el8 LocalRepo_BaseOS 16 k
libxslt x86_64 1.1.32-3.el8 LocalRepo_BaseOS 249 k
Enabling module streams:
nginx 1.14
Transaction Summary
=======================================================================================
Install 23 Packages
Total size: 4.8 M
Installed size: 15 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Configure Nginx to auto-start at boot
Once Nginx is installed, start and enable the service to auto-start at boot and verify its status using the following commands:
# systemctl start nginx
# systemctl enable nginx
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/nginx.service → /usr/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service.
# systemctl status nginx
● nginx.service - The nginx HTTP and reverse proxy server
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service; enabled; vendor preset: disa>
Active: active (running) since Sun 2019-10-06 10:15:47 UTC; 22s ago
Main PID: 3596 (nginx)
Tasks: 3 (limit: 11528)
Memory: 7.6M
CGroup: /system.slice/nginx.service
├─3596 nginx: master process /usr/sbin/nginx
├─3597 nginx: worker process
└─3598 nginx: worker process
Oct 06 10:15:47 server systemd[1]: Starting The nginx HTTP and reverse proxy server...
Oct 06 10:15:47 server nginx[3593]: nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.con>
Oct 06 10:15:47 server nginx[3593]: nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf te>
Oct 06 10:15:47 server systemd[1]: Started The nginx HTTP and reverse proxy server.
Configure the firewall
Next, you must configure the firewall so that Nginx can be reached:
# firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-service=http
success
# firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-service=https
success
# firewall-cmd --reload
success
Verify that Nginx is up and running
You can now verify that your Nginx server is up and running by going to the localhost URL on your web browser. The default Nginx web page http://localhost/ should be displayed.
Configure Nginx
To configure Nginx, open the configuration file:
# vim /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
Now, find the server section of the file and change it so that it looks like this:
server {
listen 80 default_server;
listen [::]:80 default_server;
server_name _;
root /local_repo/;
# Load configuration files for the default server block.
include /etc/nginx/default.d/*.conf;
location / {
allow all;
sendfile on;
sendfile_max_chunk 1m;
autoindex on;
autoindex_exact_size off;
autoindex_format html;
autoindex_localtime on;
}
error_page 404 /404.html;
location = /40x.html {
}
error_page 500 502 503 504 /50x.html;
location = /50x.html {
}
}
Test and clean up
Now, start the Nginx service again and test its status:
# systemctl restart nginx
# systemctl status nginx
● nginx.service - The nginx HTTP and reverse proxy server
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service; enabled; vendor preset: disa>
Active: active (running) since Sun 2019-10-06 10:15:47 UTC; 3 hours 51 min ago
Process: 24032 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/rm -f /run/nginx.pid (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 24033 ExecStartPre=/usr/sbin/nginx -t (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 24034 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/nginx (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 24035 (nginx)
Status: "Started, listening on: port 80"
Tasks: 3 (limit: 2438)
Memory: 3.9M
CGroup: /system.slice/nginx.service
├─24035 nginx: master process /usr/sbin/nginx
├─24036 nginx: worker process
└─24037 nginx: worker process
Oct 06 10:15:47 server systemd[1]: Starting The nginx HTTP and reverse proxy server...
Oct 06 10:15:47 server nginx[24033]: nginx: [warn] could not build optimal types_hash, you should increase either types_hash_max_si>
Oct 06 10:15:47 server nginx[24033]: nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
Oct 06 10:15:47 server nginx[24033]: nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful
Oct 06 10:15:47 server nginx[24033]: nginx[24034]: nginx: [warn] could not build optimal types_hash, you should increase either types_hash_max_si
Oct 06 10:15:47 server systemd[1]: Started The nginx HTTP and reverse proxy server.
Everything is good.
Change permissions and set SELinux
Continue the security configuration by changing the permissions on the local_repo directory and configuring SELinux. To change the permissions:
# setfacl -R -m u:apache:rwx /local_repo/
Then, check if SELinux is enforcing:
# getenforce
Enforcing
If it is Enforcing, type:
# chcon -Rt httpd_sys_content_t /local_repo/
If SELinux is not set to Enforcing, then the files will not serve from the repo.
# setenforce enforcing
And make the change permanent by editing the /etc/sysconfig/selinux file and set the following value:
SELINUX=enforcing
Set up the client
Now, to configure the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 client machine’s repository.
Add the repo
On the client machine, add the local repos from the server to the client’s YUM configuration:
$ sudo vim /etc/yum.repos.d/local-rhel8.repo
Then paste the following configuration (be sure to change the server IP address according to your setup):
[LocalServerRepo]
name=LocalServerRepo
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
baseurl=[http://](http://10.0.0.10/)[**10.0.0.10**](http://10.0.0.10/)[/](http://10.0.0.10/)
Test the repo
Test the LocalServerRepo by installing a package. For example:
$ yum repolist
Not root, Subscription Management repositories not updated
LocalServerRepo 112 MB/s | 7.2 MB 00:00
Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:02 ago on Sun 06 Oct 2019 01:04:21 PM UTC.
repo id repo name status
LocalServerRepo LocalServerRepo 6,647
$ sudo yum install nano
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
Unable to read consumer identity
This system is not registered to Red Hat Subscription Management. You can use subscription-manager to register.
LocalServerRepo 103 MB/s | 7.2 MB 00:00
Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:02 ago on Sun 06 Oct 2019 01:07:33 PM UTC.
Dependencies resolved.
================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
================================================================================
Installing:
nano x86_64 2.9.8-1.el8 LocalServerRepo 580 k
Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install 1 Package
Total download size: 580 k
Installed size: 2.2 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
nano-2.9.8-1.el8.x86_64.rpm 19 MB/s | 580 kB 00:00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 17 MB/s | 580 kB 00:00
Running transaction check
Transaction check succeeded.
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded.
Running transaction
Preparing : 1/1
Installing : nano-2.9.8-1.el8.x86_64 1/1
Running scriptlet: nano-2.9.8-1.el8.x86_64 1/1
Verifying : nano-2.9.8-1.el8.x86_64 1/1
Installed products updated.
Installed:
nano-2.9.8-1.el8.x86_64
Complete!
That is great! Everything works as expected. You now have an Nginx-based local YUM/DNF repository in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, using the installation DVD or ISO file.
Bobbin Zachariah
Bobbin is a very passionate lover of Linux and opensource tools. He has worked in IT for many years with experience in consulting and implementing Linux infrastructure as an employee and as an IT freelancer. More about me
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