This post will guide you how to use yum-cron to update system under CentOS/RHEL Linux. How do I configure yum automatic updates with yum-cron tool in Linux. How to set yum updates with yum-cron.
What is Yum-cron?
The yum-cron is an optional package starting from RHEL 6/CentOS 6 and it is a yum plugin.
yum-cron is a simple way to call yum commands from cron. It provides configuration to keep repository metadata up to date, and to check for, download, and apply updates.
If you want to setup automatic yum updates with yum-cron, you need to install the yum-cron package firstly. Type the following command:
# yum install yum-cron
Outputs:
[root@devops ~]# yum install yum-cron Loaded plugins: fastestmirror Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile * base: centos.ustc.edu.cn * extras: mirrors.huaweicloud.com * updates: mirrors.aliyun.com Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package yum-cron.noarch 0:3.4.3-158.el7.centos will be installed --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ================================================================================ Package Arch Version Repository Size ================================================================================ Installing: yum-cron noarch 3.4.3-158.el7.centos base 63 k Transaction Summary ================================================================================ Install 1 Package Total download size: 63 k Installed size: 51 k Is this ok [y/d/N]: y Downloading packages: yum-cron-3.4.3-158.el7.centos.noarch.rpm | 63 kB 00:00 Running transaction check Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded Running transaction Installing : yum-cron-3.4.3-158.el7.centos.noarch 1/1 Verifying : yum-cron-3.4.3-158.el7.centos.noarch 1/1 Installed: yum-cron.noarch 0:3.4.3-158.el7.centos Complete!
After installed yum-cron package, you need to start the yum-cron service.
For CentOS 7/RHEL 7 Linux:
# systemctl start yum-cron.service
Outputs:
[root@devops ~]# systemctl start yum-cron [root@devops ~]# systemctl status yum-cron yum-cron.service - Run automatic yum updates as a cron job Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/yum-cron.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled) Active: active (exited) since Sun 2018-09-16 11:14:36 EDT; 2s ago Process: 3579 ExecStart=/bin/touch /var/lock/subsys/yum-cron (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Main PID: 3579 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Sep 16 11:14:36 devops systemd[1]: Starting Run automatic yum updates as a ..... Sep 16 11:14:36 devops systemd[1]: Started Run automatic yum updates as a c...b. Hint: Some lines were ellipsized, use -l to show in full.
For CentOS 6/RHEL 6 Linux:
Type the following command:
# service yum-cron start
You need to edit the configuration file of yum-cron, and it is located in /etc/yum/yum-cron.conf.
For CentOS 6/RHEL 6 Linux:
Adding the below line into the file:
MAILTO=osetc@gmail.com YUM_PARAMETER=kernel* http*
Note: The YUM_PARAMETER variable is used to exclude packages using yum-cron to update the system. So it won’t update the kernel and http packages.
For CentOS 7/RHEL 7 Linux:
Adding the below line into the file: MAILTO=osetc@gmail.com exclude=kernel* http*
Then save and close the file.
You still need to restart the yum-cron service.
Type the following command:
# systemctl restart yum-cron
Or
# service yum-cron restart
By default, the yum-cron tool will be run daily based on the yum-daily.cron job. Let’s see this cron job.
[root@devops ~]# cat /etc/cron.daily/0yum-daily.cron #!/bin/bash # Only run if this flag is set. The flag is created by the yum-cron init # script when the service is started -- this allows one to use chkconfig and # the standard "service stop|start" commands to enable or disable yum-cron. if [[ ! -f /var/lock/subsys/yum-cron ]]; then exit 0 fi # Action! exec /usr/sbin/yum-cron
If you want to get more information about the yum-cron, just see the man page of yum-cron.
# man yum-cron
Article Number: 423
Posted: Fri, Oct 26, 2018 3:40 PM
Last Updated: Fri, Oct 26, 2018 3:40 PM
Online URL: http://kb.ictbanking.net/article.php?id=423