CentOS / RHEL / Fedora Linux: Use Yum Command With A Proxy Server

Posted on in Categories , , last updated June 3, 2014

My CentOS Linux based laptop can only be accessed through our corporate proxy servers. How do I access and use yum command with a Web proxy server on a CentOS / RHEL / Fedora / Red Hat / Scientific Linux?

Yum repositories can be accessed through standard proxy servers such as Squid proxy server. You need to provide use the following details of the proxy server in /etc/yum.conf file:

  1. proxy=http://URL:PORT/ – Proxy serer URL to the proxy server that yum should use. You must seta complete URL, including the TCP port number. If your corporate proxy server requires a username and password, specify these by adding following two settings in yum.conf file itself.
  2. proxy_username=YOUR-PROXY-USERNAME-HERE (optional)- Your proxy server username to use for the proxy URL.
  3. proxy_password=YOUR-SUPER-secrete-PASSWORD-HERE (optional) – Your proxy server password for this proxy URL.

Configuration: Using yum with a proxy server on a CentOS/RHEL/Fedora Linux

Login as root user and type:
# vi /etc/yum.conf
Add the following settings in [main] section:

proxy=http://server1.cyberciti.biz:3128
proxy_username=vivek
proxy_password=secretePassword

Here is a complete config /etc/yum.conf file:

[main]
cachedir=/var/cache/yum/$basearch/$releasever
keepcache=0
debuglevel=2
logfile=/var/log/yum.log
exactarch=1
obsoletes=1
gpgcheck=1
plugins=1
installonly_limit=3
exclude=lighttpd* nginx* spawn-fcgi* webalizer*
proxy=http://server1.cyberciti.biz:3128
proxy_username=vivek
proxy_password=secretePassword

Save and close the file. Please note that defining a proxy server, username, and password in /etc/yum.conf means that all users connect to the proxy server with those details when using yum command:
# yum update
# yum install httpd php php-gd php-mysql

How do I enable proxy access for a specific user such as root user only?

Linux and UNIX-like system has environment variable called http_proxy. It allows you to connect text based session and applications via the proxy server. Type the following command at shell prompt:
# export http_proxy="http://server1.cyberciti.biz:3128"
OR
# export http_proxy="http://PROXY=USERNAME=HERE:PROXY=PASSWORD=HERE@URL:PORT"
# export http_proxy="http://vivek:secretePassword@server1.cyberciti.biz:3128"
Feel free to add the above line in the to your shell profile file such as ~/.bash_profile. See how to set or export: http_proxy with special characters in password on a Unix or Linux based system for more information.

Posted by: Vivek Gite

The author is the creator of nixCraft and a seasoned sysadmin and a trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. He has worked with global clients and in various industries, including IT, education, defense and space research, and the nonprofit sector. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Google+.

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7 comment

    1. you have not understood why we use a proxy.

      yum uses mirror right, but here we are talking about a company that blocks access to outside world to almost all our server, allowing maybe only a couple of servers to reach these yum mirror.
      that’s why we create a proxy in one of our “external” servers

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  4. How do I configure yum to use the system proxy that was configured in the settings?

    I don’t want to have multiple proxy settings set up everywhere, for every app because I wrote a script to control the system proxy. When I am at home, I switch off the proxy using the script.

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  6. I’m using CNTLM proxy and adding the local proxy 127.0.0.1 to yum.conf
    proxy=127.0.0.1:3128
    In the cntlm proxy configuration file ./etc/cntlm.conf you can create a password hash.
    So you’re password remains secure.

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