Use a local repository for only those updates you are using, if you have many servers

[markdk]

I have multiple FCnn servers to play with, but limited bandwidth to download updates.
My solution was to on one machine change yum to keep the rpms it downloaded for updates in cache, and move the cached rpms to a local repository on served by that machine. Then use the yum priorities plugin on all my other servers to search that one machine on my local network for updates before searching the web.
This solution will still search the web for dependencies if needed, so nothing breaks this way.

There are lots of posts out there on how to create a local mirror of the updates repository, but I don't have the bandwidth for that, nor do most of us need every package in the updates repository.

This solution creates a local repository containing only the updates made to packages I am using, needing minimal disk space but still allowing all my other servers get updates for those same packages from the internal network.

Hopefully usefull to others.

The attachment is a pdf explaining how I set my environment up, created by openoffice, which is one of those updates I didn't want to pull down off the web for multiple servers :-), much better to serve the updates from the local network.

[Astrals]

Thank you this will help me out. A short no no-nonsense precise file.

[onefreeman]

Thanks a lot. I think this is exactly what I need.

[jpollard]

Really nice. I'm going to have to try it out. One possibility for extension for you is to create a virtual machine to emulate a workstation that has "everything". Then use the VM to download updates, but store the repository on the host server.

That way you wouldn't have to put stuff on the server that you really don't want.., and you get a test location to
verify that you didn't get a bad update before it propagates to the other systems.

[zmdmw52]

Originally Posted by markdk

I have multiple FCnn servers to play with, but limited bandwidth to download updates.
My solution was to on one machine change yum to keep the rpms it downloaded for updates in cache, and move the cached rpms to a local repository on served by that machine. Then use the yum priorities plugin on all my other servers to search that one machine on my local network for updates before searching the web.
This solution will still search the web for dependencies if needed, so nothing breaks this way.

This solution creates a local repository containing only the updates made to packages I am using, needing minimal disk space but still allowing all my other servers get updates for those same packages from the internal network.

Hopefully usefull to others.

Will this work for use a single PC, i.e. create a local repo (of Updates, additional downloaded/installed RPM's) on a single-user PC (not a server or networked to any other PC's); so that if there is a problem, I can use this repo as a local Update/Install repo on the PC itself instead of having to d/l & install all the updates again.

[markdk]

For a local PC if you want to cache the updates and then copy them off to CD or another filesystem it gets a little more complicated. If you check the 'yum' man pages you will see that you can setup yum to use a repository that is a 'file' (as in on the file system) rather than an http or ftp url; which is pretty much how the install CD does it in the first place, if you look through the files on the install CD you will see what I mean. So yes, you could do it as long as you used createrepo to keep the rpms you have downloaded in the correct structure and had them available at re-install time.

So I can say it is possible. I have not attempted that myself though so don't know how complicated it would really be.