Internal RHEL/CentOS repo for yum Overview

The main goal for setting up internal yum repo (or mirror) servers is having more control and consistency over the software deployed within a RHEL/CentOS Linux environment. The process we used prior to using internal repos was much more ad-hoc, causing discrepancies with test server software versions and production server software versions. While a practice of upgrading test servers prior to production servers was in place, trying to manage versions at the endpoint was troublesome and tedious. Managing versions at the source is far more efficient in the long run, plus the other added benefits of having a local yum repo.

In the quest to find something to manage Linux software on test and production servers, I found myself looking into tools like Katello and SpaceWalk to implement local yum repositories for RHEL and CentOS. However, I found those tools to be much more tool than what was really needed. The end result is a simple file download stored on local servers. the downloaded files are then served up through http and configured. I will walk through setting up local repositories for Redhat 6, Redhat 7, CentOS 6, and CentOS 7, along with a local copy of EPEL for each OS version. The first thing to get sorted is building the servers.

System Build Overview

Building the servers that will be used for the internal yum repository mirrors is fairly strait forward. The biggest consideration is the amount of disk space that will be needed and what OS to install. If you are wanting to build an internal repo for Redhat servers then the repo server needs to be Redhat. For our purposes, there will be one RHEL6 server and one RHEL7 server. The RHEL6 server, will also host the CentOS6 repo data along with the EPEL6 data. The same goes for the RHEL7 server, it will house the CentOS7 data along with the EPEL7 data. Another small sticking point to doing it this way is one will need a separate RHEL server for EACH OS version you plan to setup a mirror for.

Partitioning layout

For RHEL6 storage nodes

vg_local-lv_root mount on / minimum of 10240MB
vg_local-lv_home mount on /home minimum of 15360MB up to whatever size
vg_local-lv_tmp mount on /tmp minimum of 1024MB
vg_local-lv_usr mount on /usr minimum of 4096MB
vg_local-lv_var mount on /var minimum of 100000MB(100GB's) up to whatever size

For RHEL7 storage nodes

vg_local-lv_root mount on / minimum of 10240MB
vg_local-lv_home mount on /home minimum of 15360MB up to whatever size
vg_local-lv_tmp mount on /tmp minimum of 1024MB
vg_local-lv_usr mount on /usr minimum of 4096MB
vg_local-lv_var mount on /var minimum of 60000MB(60GB's) up to whatever size

Install prerequisite apps

Setup Note: Some services should be available on the network such as a timeserver and DNS services otherwise, some assumptions made throughout this document will not be correct. It should also be noted that turning off SElinux and the firewall is not necessary for any part of this guide.

Setup Note: RHEL servers must be subscribed to receive updates through the Subscription-Manager

Install apache

yum install httpd

Install creatrepo

yum install createrepo

Install lftp

yum install lftp

Install perl

yum install perl

Install helpful utilities

yum install wget

yum install lsof

yum install mlocate

yum install sudo

yum install policycoreutils-python

yum install yum-utils

Everything on one line

yum install httpd createrepo lftp perl wget lsof mlocate sudo policycoreutils-python yum-utils

Upgrade all packages if it has not been done yet

yum update

Reboot the system

shutdown -r now