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.