Create an Apache-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 Apache-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 Apache webserver. We'll cover the same process for NGINX and FTP in future articles.

[Want to try out Red Hat Enterprise Linux? Download it now for free.]

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

• Apache webserver

Create your repository

Creating your repository involves a number of steps. Let’s walk 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 we 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 that 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 we 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'll see 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 Apache web server

As I mentioned before, this article covers setting up your own repository using the Apache web server. Let’s walk through installing and configuring Apache to serve your repo.

Install Apache

To install the httpd (Apache) package using YUM:

# yum install httpd
Last metadata expiration check: 3:38:03 ago on Sun 06 Oct 2019 09:51:22 AM UTC.
Dependencies resolved.
=========================================================================================
 Package            Arch   Version                             Repository           Size
=========================================================================================
Installing:
 httpd              x86_64 2.4.37-10.module+el8+2764+7127e69e  LocalRepo_AppStream 1.4 M
Installing dependencies:
 apr                x86_64 1.6.3-9.el8                         LocalRepo_AppStream 125 k
 apr-util           x86_64 1.6.1-6.el8                         LocalRepo_AppStream 105 k
 httpd-filesystem   noarch 2.4.37-10.module+el8+2764+7127e69e  LocalRepo_AppStream  34 k
 httpd-tools        x86_64 2.4.37-10.module+el8+2764+7127e69e  LocalRepo_AppStream 101 k
 mod_http2          x86_64 1.11.3-1.module+el8+2443+605475b7   LocalRepo_AppStream 156 k
 mailcap            noarch 2.1.48-3.el8                        LocalRepo_BaseOS     39 k
 redhat-logos-httpd noarch 80.7-1.el8                          LocalRepo_BaseOS     25 k
Installing weak dependencies:
 apr-util-bdb       x86_64 1.6.1-6.el8                         LocalRepo_AppStream  25 k
 apr-util-openssl   x86_64 1.6.1-6.el8                         LocalRepo_AppStream  27 k
Enabling module streams:
 httpd                     2.4                                                          

Transaction Summary
=========================================================================================
Install  10 Packages

Total download size: 2.0 M
Installed size: 5.5 M
Is this ok [y/N]: 

Configure Apache to auto-start at boot

Once Apache is installed, start and enable the httpd service to auto-start at boot and verify its status using the following commands:

# systemctl start httpd

# systemctl enable httpd
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/httpd.service → /usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service.

# systemctl status httpd
● httpd.service - The Apache HTTP Server
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service; enabled; vendor preset: disa>
   Active: active (running) since Sun 2019-10-06 10:15:47 UTC; 22s ago
 Main PID: 16880 (httpd)
    Tasks: 213 (limit: 2348)
   Memory: 7.6M
   CGroup: /system.slice/httpd.service
           ├─16880 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
           ├─16881 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
           ├─16883 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
           ├─16884 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
           └─16885 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND

Oct 06 10:15:47 server systemd[1]: Starting Apache HTTP Server...
Oct 06 10:15:47 httpd[16880]: AH00558: httpd: Could not reliably determine the>
Oct 06 10:15:47 server httpd[16880]: Server configured, listening on: port 80
Oct 06 10:15:47 server systemd[1]: Started The Apache HTTP Server.

Configure the firewall

Next, configure the firewall so that Apache 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 Apache is up and running

You can now verify that your Apache server is up and running by going to the localhost URL on your web browser. The default Apache web page http://localhost/ should be displayed.

Configure Apache

To configure Apache, open the configuration file:

# vim /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

When opened, find the DocumentRoot line and change it to:

DocumentRoot "/local_repo"

Then change the /var/www/http directory section:

<Directory "/local_repo">
    Options All Indexes FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride None
    Require all granted
</Directory>

Test and clean up

Now, start the Apache service again and test its status:

# systemctl start httpd

# systemctl status httpd
● httpd.service - The Apache HTTP Server
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service; disabled; vendor preset: disab>
   Active: active (running) since Sun 2019-10-06 14:06:34 UTC; 7s ago
     Docs: man:httpd.service(8)
 Main PID: 5402 (httpd)
   Status: "Started, listening on: port 80"
    Tasks: 213 (limit: 11528)
   Memory: 39.3M
   CGroup: /system.slice/httpd.service
           ├─5402 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
           ├─5403 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
           ├─5404 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
           ├─5405 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
           └─5406 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND

Oct 06 14:06:34 server systemd[1]: Starting The Apache HTTP Server...
Oct 06 14:06:34 server httpd[5402]: AH00558: httpd: Could not reliably determine the ser>
Oct 06 14:06:34 server httpd[5402]: Server configured, listening on: port 80
Oct 06 14:06:34 server systemd[1]: Started The Apache HTTP Server.

Everything is good. Remove the welcome page so you can serve the repo files:

# rm -rf /etc/httpd/conf.d/welcome.conf

Now, test httpd and restart Apache:

# httpd -t
AH00558: httpd: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.0.1. Set the 'ServerName' directive globally to suppress this message
Syntax OK
# systemctl restart httpd

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:httpd: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:

$ sudo yum install mc
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: 0:01:42 ago on Sun 06 Oct 2019 02:14:03 PM UTC.
Dependencies resolved.
================================================================================
 Package    Arch           Version                Repository               Size
================================================================================
Installing:
 mc         x86_64         1:4.8.19-9.el8         LocalServerRepo         1.9 M

Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install  1 Package

Total download size: 1.9 M
Installed size: 6.8 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
mc-4.8.19-9.el8.x86_64.rpm                       34 MB/s | 1.9 MB     00:00    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                            32 MB/s | 1.9 MB     00:00     
Running transaction check
Transaction check succeeded.
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded.
Running transaction
  Preparing        :                                                        1/1 
  Installing       : mc-1:4.8.19-9.el8.x86_64                               1/1 
  Running scriptlet: mc-1:4.8.19-9.el8.x86_64                               1/1 
  Verifying        : mc-1:4.8.19-9.el8.x86_64                               1/1 
Installed products updated.

Installed:
  mc-1:4.8.19-9.el8.x86_64                                                      

Complete!

That is great! Everything works as expected. You now have an Apache-based local YUM/DNF repository in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, using the installation DVD or ISO file.