Configuring a local Yum/DNF repository on CentOS 8 helps you manage software packages in environments where you do not have an Internet connection or need to control software package versions. Let's complete setting up the local Yum/DNF repository on CentOS 8.
Ensure that you have a CentOS 8 system with sufficient disk space and storage packages. Start by installing tools for creating and managing local storage:
sudo dnf install -y createrepo yum-utils
Create another directory to hold the local repository:
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/html/localrepo
Download the required software package from the CentOS 8 image or other sources, such as using the reposync command to synchronize the software package from the official repository:
sudo reposync --repo=baseos --repo=appstream --repo=extras --download-path=/var/www/html/localrepo
The above command can download the package from the official repository to the /var/www/html/localrepo directory.
Just like creating a repository element, use the createrepo command to generate metadata in the repository directory:
sudo createrepo /var/www/html/localrepo
Create a new.repo file to configure the local repository:
sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/localrepo.repo <<EOF
[localrepo]
name=Local Repository
baseurl=file:///var/www/html/localrepo
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
EOF
Verify the local repository, clear the cache, and regenerate the cache to ensure that the local repository is configured correctly:
sudo dnf clean all
sudo dnf makecache
Try installing a package from the local repository again to verify the configuration:
sudo dnf install <package_name>
If you want to access the local repository over HTTP, you can configure a simple HTTP server, such as using the Apache HTTP server. To install the Apache HTTP server:
sudo dnf install -y httpd
To configure the Apache HTTP server, create a symbolic link to make the repository directory accessible via HTTP:
sudo ln -s /var/www/html/localrepo /var/www/html/repo
Modify the Apache configuration file, / etc/HTTPD/conf/HTTPD. Conf, ensure that contains the following contents:
<Directory "/var/www/html/repo">
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
Require all granted
</Directory>
Start and enable the Apache HTTP server:
sudo systemctl start httpd
sudo systemctl enable httpd
Configuration DNF using HTTP access local repository, modify the/etc/yum repos. D/localrepo. Repo file, change the baseurl URL for HTTP:
[localrepo]
name=Local Repository
baseurl=http://<your_server_ip>/repo
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
Clear the cache and regenerate the cache, then try to install the package to make sure the configuration is correct:
sudo dnf clean all
sudo dnf makecache
sudo dnf install <package_name>
By performing the preceding steps to configure the local Yum/DNF repository, you can manage software packages offline in the CentOS8 system. You can access the repository directly through a file system or configure an HTTP server to provide remote access. Using a local repository gives you better control over package versions and dependencies to suit different usage scenarios.
