How to do release update on Red Hat Linux ?

 Following procedure guides you on how to update a Red Hat Linux server from RHEL 6.3 to 6.4.

1. Mount the file RHEL6.4-Server-20130130.0-x86_64-DVD1.iso on a directory.

# mount -o loop RHEL6.4-Server-20130130.0-x86_64-DVD1.iso /media/rhel6/

2. Copy the repo file from the ISO to local repos.d directory.

# cp /media/rhel6/media.repo /etc/yum.repos.d/rhel6.repo

3. Modify the file /etc/yum.repos.d/rhel6.repo

baseurl=file:///media/rhel6/

4. Update the OS

# yum update

5. Unmount the file system

# umount /media/rhel6

6. Remove the temporary repo file

# rm /etc/yum.repos.d/rhel6.repo

7. Reboot the server

8. Check the OS version.

# cat /etc/redhat-release

YUM Repository

How to create YUM repository on a RHEL Server :

1. Insert and then mount the cdrom as /media

# mount /dev/cdrom /media

2. Create a directory called /myrepo

# mkdir /myrepo

3. Copy all the RPMs from the cd to the local directory

# cp /media/Packages/*.rpm /myrepo

4. Copy the xml file from the CD to the local directory

# cp /media/Server/repodata/6b21fc619d1eccd6fb49237c666f0ce4c68f-comps-rhel-Server.xml /myrepo

5. Create a YUM repository based on the cdrom. This can be done by creating the below file.

# cat > /etc/yum.repos.d/myrepo

[myrepo]
name=rhel6
baseurl=file:///media
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0

^d

Now you can install any rpm using yum command which will install the software from /media ie., your cdrom

6. Install createrepo rpm ( including its dependents)

# yum install createrepo

7. Create a local repository

# cd /myrepo
# createrepo -g 96b21fc619d1eccd6fb49237c666f0ce4c68f-comps-rhel-Server.xml -x /myrepo

8. Finally you have to change the below file

/etc/yum.repos.d/myrepo :

[myrepo]
name=rhel6
baseurl=file:///media
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0

9. Now you have finished creating a local repository on your server.
You can install any individual rpm or groups by just invoking yum command.

Here are few commands to show different ways to use yum command:

1. To install an individual rpm and also install its dependents

# yum install package-name

2. To install a group of rpms

# yum groupinstall group-name

3. To list all the packages available in the repository

# yum list

4. To list only the packages that are installed
# yum list installed

5. To list all the groups available in the repository

# yum grouplist

6. To display information of a group of packages

# yum groupinfo group-name

7. To display information of a package
# yum info package-name

8. To uninstall a package
# yum remove package-name

9. To uninstall a group of packages
# yum groupremove group-name

10. To update a package
# yum update package-name

11. To update a group of packages
# yum update group-name


12. To search for a package using a keyword
# yum search keyword

13. To know which package a file belongs to
# yum provides /usr/bin/screen

14. To list your current (enabled) yum repositories
# yum repolist

15. To list all yum repositories
# yum repolist all

Few other info,

yum conf file:   /etc/yum.conf
yum repo file: /etc/yum.repos.d/


You still have a lot to learn about YUM. So keep reading.