How to Create Local HTTP Yum/DNF Repository on RHEL 8

A software repository or “repo” is a central location for keeping and maintaining RPM software packages for Redhat Linux distribution, from which users can download and install packages on their Linux servers.

Repositories are generally stored on a public network, which can be accessed by multiple users on the internet. However, you can create your own local repository on your server and access it as a single user or allow access to other machines on your local LAN (Local Area Network) using HTTP web server.

The advantage of creating a local repository is that you don’t require an internet connection to install software packages or updates.

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

In this article, we will explain how to setup a local YUM/DNF repository on RHEL 8 using the installation DVD or ISO file. We will also show you how to find and install software packages on client RHEL 8 machines using Nginx HTTP server.

Our Testing Environment

Local Repository Server: RHEL 8 [192.168.0.106]
Local Client Machine: RHEL 8 [192.168.0.200]

Step 1: Install Nginx Web Server

1. First, install the Nginx HTTP server using the DNF package manager as follows.

# dnf install nginx

2. Once Nginx installed, you can start, enable the service to auto start at boot time and verify the status using the following commands.

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

3. Next, you need to open Nginx ports 80 and 443 on your firewall.

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

4. Now you can verify that your Nginx server is up and running by going to the following URL on your web browser, a default Nginx web page will be displayed.

http://SERVER_DOMAIN_NAME_OR_IP

Step 2: Mounting RHEL 8 Installation DVD/ISO File

5. Create a local repository mount point under Nginx document root directory /var/www/html/ and mount the downloaded RHEL 8 DVD ISO image under /mnt directory.

# mkdir /var/www/html/local_repo
# mount -o loop rhel-8.0-x86_64-dvd.iso /mnt  [Mount Download ISO File]
# mount /dev/cdrom /mnt                       [Mount DVD ISO File from DVD ROM]

6. Next, copy ISO files locally under /var/www/html/local_repo directory and verify the contents using ls command.

# cd /mnt
# tar cvf - . | (cd /var/www/html/local_repo/; tar xvf -)
# ls -l /var/www/html/local_repo/

Step 3: Configuring Local Repository

7. Now it is time to configure the local repository. You need to create the local repository configuration file in the /etc/yum.repos.d/ directory and set the appropriate permissions on the file as shown.

# touch /etc/yum.repos.d/local-rhel8.repo
# chmod  u+rw,g+r,o+r  /etc/yum.repos.d/local-rhel8.

8. Then open the file for editing using your favorite command line text editor.

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

9. Copy and paste the following content in the file.

[LocalRepo_BaseOS]
name=LocalRepo_BaseOS
metadata_expire=-1
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
baseurl=file:///var/www/html/local_repo/
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:///var/www/html/local_repo/
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-redhat-release

Save the changes and exit the file.

10. Now you need to install required packages for creating, configuring and managing your local repository by running the following command.

# yum install createrepo  yum-utils
# createrepo /var/www/html/local_repo/

Step 4: Testing Local Repository

11. In this step, you should run a cleanup of temporary files kept for repositories by using the following command.

# yum clean all
OR
# dnf clean all

12. Then verify that the created repositories appear in the list of enabled repositories.

# dnf repolist
OR
# dnf repolist  -v  #shows more detailed information 

13. Now try to install a package from the local repositories, for example install Git command line tool as follows:

# dnf install git

Looking at the output of the above command, the git package is being installed from the LocalRepo_AppStream repository as shown in the screenshot. This proves that the local repositories are enabled and are working fine.

Step 5: Setup Local Yum Repository on Client Machines

14. Now on your RHEL 8 client machines, add your local repos to the YUM configuration.

# vi /etc/yum.repos.d/local-rhel8.repo 

Copy and paste the configuration below in the file. Make sure to replace baseurl with your server IP address or domain.

[LocalRepo_BaseOS]
name=LocalRepo_BaseOS
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
baseurl=http://192.168.0.106

[LocalRepo_AppStream]
name=LocalRepo_AppStream
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
baseurl=http://192.168.0.106

Save the file and start using your local YUM mirrors.

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

# dnf repolist

That’s all! In this article, we have shown how to create a local YUM/DNF repository in RHEL 8, using the installation DVD or ISO file. Do not forget to reach us via the feedback form below for any questions or comments.