Setting Up a Local YUM Repository server with Nginx Using RHEL ISO

Overview

First iso image file should be mounted as a seperate filesystem to access the package files. Then Createrepo and Nginx server should be installed and enabled. Then the Appstream and BaseOS directory have to be mounted on nginx's filepath. Firewall rules needed to be configured, so that Nginx can serve those repos. After that on that filepath "createrepo" need to be executed, this will make those directories package repository. Test this by configuring local yum configuration inside "/etc/yum.repos.d" directory.

Requirements

• RHEL ISO image (e.g., rhel9.iso)

• createrepo package

• Nginx web server

Step 1: Mounting iso image as seperate filesystemto to access the package files

i)

mount -o loop /rhel9.iso /media

"-o" and "loop" are used to make this iso as file system and this will mount the files in /media

ii)

mkdir /packages

here Appstream and BaseOS directory need to be copied untill nginx is available.

iii)

cp -ar /media/Appstream /packages

iv)

cp -ar /media/BaseOS /packages

Coping the Appstream and BaseOS to /packages. "-ar" is used to copy archive and recursive files also Now you can ls inside /packages and also inside /packages/Appstream , /packages/BaseOS to verify.

Step 2: Installing Createrepo and Nginx package

i)

yum install createrepo

ii)

yum install nginx

iii)

systemctl enable --now nginx

To enable nginx, you can verify with

systemctl status nginx

Step 3: Moving files inside nginx's directory

i)

mkdir -p /usr/share/nginx/html/repo/appstream

"/usr/share/nginx/html/" till this already created.

ii)

mkdir -p /usr/share/nginx/html/repo/baseos

Need to create /repo and inside /repo , /appstream and /baseos need to be created

Step 4: Creating Repository Metadata

i)

createrepo /usr/share/nginx/html/repo/appstream

ii)

createrepo /usr/share/nginx/html/repo/baseos

Step 5: Set Nginx Permissions and SELinux Context

i)

chown -R nginx:nginx /usr/share/nginx/html/repo

If SELinux is installed then also execute this

ii)

chcon -R -t httpd_sys_content_t /usr/share/nginx/html/repo

Step 6: Opening http port in system's firewall to make repos accessable

i)

firewall-cmd --add-service=http -permanent

ii)

firewall-cmd --reload

Step 7: Testing this repos inside the system itself which will fetch from localhost

i)

cd /etc/yum.repos.d

here either "local.repo" file can be configured or this repo should be disabled and a new ".repo" file should be created, do vi and paste the below inside the ".repo" file

[InternalRepo_Appstream]
name=Internal_Repository_Appstream
baseurl=http://SYSTEM-IP/repo/appstream
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0

[InternalRepo_BaseOS]
name=Internal_Repository_BaseOS
baseurl=http://SYSTEM-IP/repo/baseos
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0

ii)

yum clean all

To clean the cache

iii)

yum repolist

To view the new repolist

iv)

yum install <PACKAGE-NAME>

To install the package

Step 8: Configure Client Machines

After successfully testing inside the satelite server itself with localhost now clients can be configured. Paste the following inside "/etc/yum.repos.d" either by creating new ".repo" file or replace the contents inside "local.repo".

[InternalRepo_Appstream]
name=Internal_Repository_Appstream
baseurl=http://SERVER-IP/repo/appstream
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0

[InternalRepo_BaseOS]
name=Internal_Repository_BaseOS
baseurl=http://SERVER-IP/repo/baseos
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0

**But ensure other repos should be disabled, like this

[Local_repo]
name=Local_Repository
baseurl=/repo_path
enabled=0                    This should be "0"
gpgcheck=0

✅ Done!

Your local YUM satellite server is now configured and accessible to clients within your network via HTTP. This setup is especially useful for offline environments or restricted networks.