How to Setup Local HTTP Yum Repository on CentOS 7

Categories CentOS 50 Comments

A software repository (“repo” in short) is a central file storage location to keep and maintain software packages, from which users can retrieve packages and install them on their computers.

Repositories are often stored on servers on a network for example an internet, which can be accessed by multiple users. However, you can create and configure a local repository on your computer and access it as a single user or allow access to other machines on your LAN (Local Area Network).

One advantage of setting up a local repository is that you don’t need an internet connection to install software packages.

YUM (Yellowdog Updater Modified) is a widely used package management tool for RPM (RedHat Package Manager) based on Linux systems, which makes software installation easy on Red Hat/CentOS Linux.

In this article, we will explain how to set up a local YUM repository over HTTP (Nginx) web server on CentOS 7 VPS and also show you how to find and install software packages on client CentOS 7 machines.

Our Testing Environment

Yum HTTP Repository Server:	CentOS 7 [192.168.0.100]
Client Machine:		CentOS 7 [192.168.0.101]

Step 1: Install Nginx Web Server

1. First start by installing the Nginx HTTP server from the EPEL repository using the YUM package manager as follows.

# yum install epel-release
# yum install nginx

2. Once you have installed the Nginx web server, you can start it for the first time and enable it to start automatically at system boot.

 
# systemctl start nginx
# systemctl enable nginx
# systemctl status nginx

3. Next, you need to open port 80 and 443 to allow web traffic to Nginx service, update the system firewall rules to permit inbound packets on HTTP and HTTPS using the commands below.

# firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-service=http
# firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-service=https
# firewall-cmd --reload

4. Now you can confirm that your Nginx server is up and running, using the following URL; if you see the default Nginx web page, all is well.

http://SERVER_DOMAIN_NAME_OR_IP
Nginx Default Page
Nginx Default Page

Step 2: Create a Yum Local Repository

5. In this step, you need to install the required packages for creating, configuring, and managing your local repository.

# yum install createrepo  yum-utils

6. Next, create the necessary directories (yum repositories) that will store packages and any related information.

# mkdir -p /var/www/html/repos/{base,centosplus,extras,updates}

7. Then use the reposync tool to synchronize CentOS YUM repositories to the local directories as shown.

# reposync -g -l -d -m --repoid=base --newest-only --download-metadata --download_path=/var/www/html/repos/
# reposync -g -l -d -m --repoid=centosplus --newest-only --download-metadata --download_path=/var/www/html/repos/
# reposync -g -l -d -m --repoid=extras --newest-only --download-metadata --download_path=/var/www/html/repos/
# reposync -g -l -d -m --repoid=updates --newest-only --download-metadata --download_path=/var/www/html/repos/
Sample Output
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, langpacks
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * base: mirrors.fibergrid.in
 * epel: mirror.xeonbd.com
 * extras: mirrors.fibergrid.in
 * updates: mirrors.fibergrid.in
base/7/x86_64/group                                                    | 891 kB  00:00:02     
No Presto metadata available for base
(1/9911): 389-ds-base-snmp-1.3.7.5-18.el7.x86_64.rpm                   | 163 kB  00:00:02     
(2/9911): 389-ds-base-devel-1.3.7.5-18.el7.x86_64.rpm                  | 267 kB  00:00:02     
(3/9911): ElectricFence-2.2.2-39.el7.i686.rpm                          |  35 kB  00:00:00     
(4/9911): ElectricFence-2.2.2-39.el7.x86_64.rpm                        |  35 kB  00:00:00     
(5/9911): 389-ds-base-libs-1.3.7.5-18.el7.x86_64.rpm                   | 695 kB  00:00:04     
(6/9911): GConf2-devel-3.2.6-8.el7.i686.rpm                            | 110 kB  00:00:00     
(7/9911): GConf2-devel-3.2.6-8.el7.x86_64.rpm                          | 110 kB  00:00:00     
(8/9911): GConf2-3.2.6-8.el7.i686.rpm                                  | 1.0 MB  00:00:06

In the above commands, the option:

  • -g – enables removing of packages that fail GPG signature checking after downloading.
  • -l – enables yum plugin support.
  • -d – enables deleting of local packages no longer present in the repository.
  • -m – enables downloading of comps.xml files.
  • --repoid – specifies the repository ID.
  • --newest-only – tell reposync to only pull the latest version of each package in the repos.
  • --download-metadata – enables downloading all the non-default metadata.
  • --download_path – specifies the path to download packages.

8. Next, check the contents of your local directories to ensure that all the packages have been synchronized locally.

# ls -l /var/www/html/repos/base/
# ls -l /var/www/html/repos/base/Packages/
# ls -l /var/www/html/repos/centosplus/
# ls -l /var/www/html/repos/centosplus/Packages/
# ls -l /var/www/html/repos/extras/
# ls -l /var/www/html/repos/extras/Packages/
# ls -l /var/www/html/repos/updates/
# ls -l /var/www/html/repos/updates/Packages/

9. Now create a new repodata for the local repositories by running the following commands, where the flag -g is used to update the package group information using the specified .xml file.

# createrepo -g comps.xml /var/www/html/repos/base/  
# createrepo -g comps.xml /var/www/html/repos/centosplus/	
# createrepo -g comps.xml /var/www/html/repos/extras/  
# createrepo -g comps.xml /var/www/html/repos/updates/

10. To enable viewing of repositories and packages in them, via a web browser, create an Nginx server block that points to the root of your repositories as shown.

# vim /etc/nginx/conf.d/repos.conf

Add the following configuration ot file repos.conf.

server {
        listen   80;
        server_name  repos.test.lab;	#change  test.lab to your real domain 
        root   /var/www/html/repos;
        location / {
                index  index.php index.html index.htm;
                autoindex on;	#enable listing of directory index
        }
}

Save the file and close it.

11. Then restart your Nginx server and view the repositories from a web browser using the following URL.

http://repos.test.lab
View Local Yum Repositories
View Local Yum Repositories

Step 3: Create a Cron Job to Synchronize and Create Repositories

12. Next, add a cron job that will automatically synchronize your local repos with the official CentOS repos to grab the updates and security patches.

# vim /etc/cron.daily/update-localrepos

Add these commands in the script.

#!/bin/bash
##specify all local repositories in a single variable
LOCAL_REPOS=”base centosplus extras updates”
##a loop to update repos one at a time 
for REPO in ${LOCAL_REPOS}; do
reposync -g -l -d -m --repoid=$REPO --newest-only --download-metadata --download_path=/var/www/html/repos/
createrepo -g comps.xml /var/www/html/repos/$REPO/  
done

Save the script and close it and set the appropriate permissions on it.

# chmod 755 /etc/cron.daily/update-localrepos

Step 4: Setup Local Yum Repository on Client Machines

13. Now on your CentOS client machines, add your local repos to the YUM configuration.

# vim /etc/yum.repos.d/local-repos.repo

Copy and paste the configuration below in the file local-repos.repo (make changes where necessary).

[local-base]
name=CentOS Base
baseurl=http://repos.test.lab/base/
gpgcheck=0
enabled=1

[local-centosplus]
name=CentOS CentOSPlus
baseurl=http://repos.test.lab/centosplus/
gpgcheck=0
enabled=1

[local-extras]
name=CentOS Extras
baseurl=http://repos.test.lab/extras/
gpgcheck=0
enabled=1

[local-updates]
name=CentOS Updates
baseurl=http://repos.test.lab/updates/
gpgcheck=0
enabled=1

Save the file and start using your local YUM mirrors.

14. Next, run the following command to view your local repos in the list of available YUM repos, on the client machines.

#  yum repolist
OR
# yum repolist all
View Local Yum Repositories on Client
View Local Yum Repositories on Client

That’s all! In this article, we have explained how to set up a local YUM repository on CentOS 7. We hope that you found this guide useful. If you have any questions, or any other thoughts to share, use the comment form below.

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50 thoughts on “How to Setup Local HTTP Yum Repository on CentOS 7”

  1. Hello! is it possible to download packages?

    reposync -g -l -d -m –repoid = base –newest-only –download-metadata –download_path = / var / www / html / repos / set sync to Centos 8 ??

    when I install packages reposync -g -l -d -m –repoid = base –newest-only –download-metadata –download_path = / var / www / html / repos /

    # reposync -g -l -d -m – repoid = centosplus –newest-only –download-metadata –download_path = / var / www / html / repos/ on Centos 8, I get an error Command line error: argument -d/–debuglevel: expected one argument.

    Reply

  2. Hello,

    My cron is not running with the above scripts mentioned. getting daily mail alerts as below.

    /etc/cron.daily/update-localrepos: line 3: centosplus: command not found

    please suggest

    Reply

    • try this..

      #!/bin/bash
##specify all local repositories in a single variable
LOCAL_REPOS='base centosplus extras updates'
##a loop to update repos one at a time 
for REPO in ${LOCAL_REPOS}; do
reposync -g -l -d -m --repoid=$REPO --newest-only --download-metadata --download_path=/var/www/html/repos/

if [ $REPO = 'base' ]
then
createrepo -g comps.xml /var/www/html/repos/$REPO/  
else
createrepo /var/www/html/repos/$REPO/  
fi
done
      Reply

  3. Hi,

    I am trying following step 9..

    # createrepo -g comps.xml /var/www/html/repos/base/  
# createrepo -g comps.xml /var/www/html/repos/centosplus/	
# createrepo -g comps.xml /var/www/html/repos/extras/  
# createrepo -g comps.xml /var/www/html/repos/updates/

    and i got massage like this..

    Cannot create/verify /var/www/html/repos/base/.repodata
Cannot create/verify /var/www/html/repos/centosplus/.repodata
Cannot create/verify /var/www/html/repos/extras/.repodata
Cannot create/verify /var/www/html/repos/updates/.repodata

    can anyone help me?

    thanks.

    Reply

    • Use -g comps.xml only with base repo, Use that after:

      # createrepo /var/www/html/repos/centosplus/	
# createrepo /var/www/html/repos/extras/  
# createrepo /var/www/html/repos/updates/
      Reply

  4. Hi, Thanks for that post!

    I have followed all steps, but finally, my local-base repo is enabled but appears a zero in the number of packages.

    The output for "yum repolist all" is:
    id del repositorio nombre del repositorio estado
    !local-base CentOS Base habilitado: 0
    !local-centosplus CentOS CentOSPlus habilitado: 0
    !local-extras CentOS Extras habilitado: 0
    !local-updates CentOS Updates habilitado: 0
    repolist: 0

    Can anybody help me, please?

    Reply

  5. Hi,

    My local repo is working fine EXCEPT when I go onto another server and run a ‘yum update‘ I get nothing because the RPM was originally installed from CentOS 7 repos and the repo name is ‘base‘.

    Now my local repo is named ‘local-base‘ the update does not work. I assume the update looks at the package name AND repo name and then if a match it would allow an update (if required). How do I bulk-update all the packages on my server so that yum thinks the RPM was installed from my ‘local-base‘ repo?

    By the way, I can install new packages from the local repo successfully.

    Thanks

    Reply

    • An update to my OP – it is not the repo name as I changed the local-repos.repo file to have a repo name of base and that did not list updates either. I can install new packages, reinstall packages, list available and installed packages. Everything other than update packages!!

      I have no idea what the problem could be now. Any assistance gratefully received.

      Reply

      • *SOLVED* The problem was that I had not enabled local-updates. Thanks to those who took the time to reply.

        Reply

  6. Hi, how can I add the yum repository to the client server, as I am getting the “server not found” error when am trying to download the repos in the client server.

    Reply

  7. Thanks for the article. Works good but how do you create a epel offline repo? I used the steps to add epel download and it works but the client errors out as the epel repo folder does not have repodata folder even though I have the switch --download-metadata.

    Reply

  8. Hi,

    I can’t yum anything from client when i was config follow this article.

    [[email protected] ~]# yum repolist all
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, langpacks
http://nginx.htp.local/base/repodata/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 403 - Forbidden
Trying other mirror.
http://nginx.htp.local/base/repodata/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 403 - Forbidden
Trying other mirror.
http://nginx.htp.local/centosplus/repodata/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 403 - Forbidden
Trying other mirror.
http://nginx.htp.local/extras/repodata/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 403 - Forbidden
Trying other mirror.
http://nginx.htp.local/updates/repodata/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 403 - Forbidden
Trying other mirror.
repo id                                                 repo name                                                 status
local-base                                              CentOS Base                                               enabled: 0
local-centosplus                                        CentOS CentOSPlus                                         enabled: 0
local-extras                                            CentOS Extras                                             enabled: 0
local-updates                                           CentOS Updates                                            enabled: 0

    But when I yum update is failed:

    failure: repodata/repomd.xml from local-base: [Errno 256] No more mirrors to try.
http://nginx.htp.local/base/repodata/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 403 - Forbidden
    Reply

  9. Hi

    I’m try to execute this command

    # createrepo -g comps.xml /var/www/html/repos/centosplus/	
# createrepo -g comps.xml /var/www/html/repos/extras/  
# createrepo -g comps.xml /var/www/html/repos/updates/

    but it show me error like this:

    Error: groupfile /var/www/html/repos/centosplus/comps.xml cannot be found.
Error: groupfile /var/www/html/repos/extras/comps.xml cannot be found.
Error: groupfile /var/www/html/repos/updates/comps.xml cannot be found.
    Reply

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