How to share a local repository using FTP ?

Environment

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL 9/8/7)
• FTP

Issue

• How to share local repository within offline/disconnected systems using FTP ?

Resolution

On yum repository server :

• Make sure that vsftpd packages are installed.

  # yum install vsftpd
  

  NOTE : Make sure repositories or packages are downloaded using DVD or reposync for RHEL 7 and RHEL 8 and 9 respectively.

• If Selinux is Enforcing, the content inside /var/ftp/pub/ or the directory where Packages and Repodata are kept, should contain selinux context as public_content_t. If selinux context is incorrect, change context with below commands.

  # semanage fcontext -a -t public_content_t "/var/ftp/pub/repo"
  # restorecon -vR /var/ftp/pub/repo
  # ls -ldZ /var/ftp/pub/repo
  drwxr-xr-x. root root system_u:object_r:public_content_t:s0 /var/ftp/pub/repo
  

  Note: Default anonymous access root for FTP is /var/ftp directory of the server. Anonymous access root can be changed by modifying anon_root=/var/ftp in the config file /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf.

• If Firewall is running, add the required ports and then start and enable vsftpd service.

    # firewall-cmd --add-port=21/tcp --permanent     
    # firewall-cmd --reload
  
    # systemctl enable vsftpd.service  
    # systemctl start vsftpd.service
  

On the client systems :

• Configure a yum repo file that points to the repository server: (Example of a RHEL 7 local repository)

    /// For RHEL 7 :
    # cat /etc/yum.repos.d/rhel7.repo
    [rhel7-ftp]
    name=Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
    baseurl=ftp://<ip_address>/pub/rhel-7-server-rpms/
    enabled=1
    gpgcheck=0
  
  
    /// For RHEL 8 and 9
    # cat /etc/yum.repos.d/rhel8.repo
    [BaseOS]
    name=Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 BaseOS
    baseurl=ftp://<ip_address>/pub/BaseOS/
    enabled=1
    gpgcheck=0
  
    [AppStream]
    name=Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 AppStream
    baseurl=ftp://<ip_address>/pub/AppStream/
    enabled=1
    gpgcheck=0
  

  NOTE:

  • Replace ip_address to FTP Server's IP address.
  • The baseurl will be ftp://<ip_address>/pub/<path>/ if default root directory (/var/ftp/pub) is used.

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