How do I create a RHEL or BCM repository for my organization?

Contents

Purpose

In certain cases, a BCM cluster cannot access the internet directly. In these cases, having a local repository within the customer’s intranet is beneficial (e.g., in the case where a site is hosting multiple clusters, or in an airgapped environment. This KB article will describe creating a local repository using the BCM headnode’s web server.

These instructions can also be used if the local repository needs to be created on a non-BCM headnode, provided that yum/dnf have been installed, and the remote repositories have been correctly configured. Alternatively, the RPMs can be obtained from a DVD or ISO image.

Steps

Creating the Local Repository Folder

On the BCM head node, navigate to /var/www/html:
```
# cd /var/www/html
```
Create a repository directory “repos”, and navigate into the directory:
```
# mkdir repos && cd repos
```

Adding Content to the Local Repository

There are several ways to add RPMs. You can copy them directly from a BCM ISO or use reposync, a utility that creates a local copy of an online RPM repository.

Using a BCM ISO

Mount the ISO locally on the head node:
```
# mount -o loop,ro <ISO image> /mnt/iso
```
Copy the contents of the ISO file into the repos directory created previously:
```
# cp -r /mnt/iso/path/to/rpm/rectory /var/www/html/repos
```

Using `reposync`

Install reposync, which is part of the yum-utils package:
```
# yum install yum-utils
```

Obtain the list of repositories by running yum repolist, for example:

# yum repolist
repo id            repo name
appstream          Rocky Linux 9 - AppStream
baseos             Rocky Linux 9 - BaseOS
cm-rhel9-trunk     CM trunk for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
crb                Rocky Linux 9 - CRB
cuda-rhel9-x86_64  cuda-rhel9-x86_64
epel               epel
extras             Rocky Linux 9 - Extras

Provided that the YUM repositories are properly configured on the headnode, the following script (reposync.sh can be used):

#!/bin/bash 

## declare an array variable 

declare -a arr=("appstream", "baseos", "cm-rhel9-trunk", "crb", "cuda-rhel9-x86_64", "epel", "extras") 

## now loop through the above array

for i in "${arr[@]}"
do cd /var/www/html/repos mkdir -p $i
    reposync --gpgcheck -l --repoid=$i -n 
    cd /home/rhel/$i
    createrepo -v /var/www/html/repos/$i 
done

The -n flag at the end of the reposync command instructs reposync to download only the latest version of each RPM available on the remote repository. You can add or remove repositories from the array variable as needed.
Make the reposync.sh script executable:
```
# chmod +x reposync.sh
```
Run the reposync script:
```
# ./reposync.sh
```

To use the newly created local YUM repository, first move (backup) all existing repo files:

On the head node:

# cp -r /etc/yum.repos.d/ /root/yum.repos.d.bak

In the software image:

# cp -r /cm/shared/<software image>/etc/yum.repos.d /cm/shared/<software image>/root/yum.repos.d.bak

Then remove the existing .repo files:
On the head node:

# rm -f /etc/yum.repos.d/*

In the software image:

# rm -f /cm/shared/<software image>/etc/yum.repos.d/*

Finally, create a .repo configuration file in /etc/yum.repos.d for the headnodes, and /cm/shared/<software image>/etc/yum.repos.d for the software images. For example:

[root@kerndev ~]# cat local-yum-repo.repo
[appstream]
name=My Rocky appstream $releasever - $basearch
baseurl=http://<hostname of head node>/repos/appstream
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0

[baseos]
name=My Rocky baseos $releasever - $basearch
baseurl=http://<hostname of head node>/repos/baseos
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0

[cm-rhel9-trunk]
name=My BCM RHEL9 Trunk
baseurl=http://<hostname of head node>/repos/cm-rhel9-trunk
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0

[crb]
name=My crb packages
baseurl=http://<hostname of head node>/repos/crb
enabled=1
pgpgcheck=0

[cuda-rhel9-x86_64]
name=My cuda packages
baseurl=http://<hostname of head node>/repos/cuda-rhel9-x86_64
enabled=1
pgpgcheck=0

[epel]
name=My epel packages
baseurl=http://<hostname of head node>/repos/baseos
enabled=1
pgpgcheck=

[extras]
name=My Rocky extras $releasever - $basearch
baseurl=http://<hostname of head node>/repos/extras
enabled=1
pgpgcheck=0

Errata

If the repositories need to reside outside of /var/www/html (for example, if the /var partition is too small) , you can move the repos directory to another location (in this example /home/repos), and then create an alias directory in the web server’s configuration vim /etc/httpd/conf.d/local-repo.conf and
```
Alias /repos /home/repos
<Directory /home/repos> 
 Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks
 Order allow,deny
 Allow from all
</Directory>
```
Afterward, restart the web server service on the head node:
```
# systemctl restart httpd
```

Updated on August 20, 2025

Tagged: repository RHEL