How to enable Proxy Settings for Yum Command on RHEL/CentOS

In most of the data center direct Internet connection is not allowed on Unix and Windows Servers. If we need to download anything from Internet we have to go through via some proxy servers. In case of Linux Servers whenever we need to install new packages and apply patches in such scenarios we have to set proxy for yum command.

This can be easily achieved with yum config file “/etc/yum.conf“. Under main section define the proxy settings like below:

[main]
………………
proxy=http://<Proxy-Server-IP-Address>:<Proxy_Port>
proxy_username=<Proxy-User-Name>
proxy_password=<Proxy-Password> 
………………

Save and exit the file and start using the yum command. Sample yum Config file with proxy settings is shown below :

proxy-settings-yum-conf

Just for the verification you can run beneath command to see whether you are able to fetch the packages or not.

[root@linuxtechi ~]# yum repolist

yum-repolist-command-output

Alternate way to configure proxy settings for yum command

Set the following variables in either of the file “/etc/environment” or “/root/.bashrc

.....................................................................
export http_proxy=http://{Proxy-User-Name}:{Proxy-Password}@<Proxy-Server-IP-Address>:<Proxy-Port>
export https_proxy= http://{Proxy-User-Name}:{Proxy-Password}@<Proxy-Server-IP-Address>:<Proxy-Port>
export ftp_proxy= http://{Proxy-User-Name}:{Proxy-Password}@<Proxy-Server-IP-Address>:<Proxy-Port>
export no_proxy=127.0.0.1,localhost
...................................................................

environment-file-linux-server

Above proxy settings will be applicable system wide.

Also ReadHow to Set Proxy Settings for APT Command

10 thoughts on “How to enable Proxy Settings for Yum Command on RHEL/CentOS”

  1. Hi,

    Thanks for your help, but I still have a bad issue when I try to execute yum.
    I configure my /etc/environment like you, try “yum update”
    and now, (as always, before my configuration), I have this error :

    There was an error communicating with RHN.
    Red Hat Satellite or RHN Classic support will be disabled.
    Error communicating with server. The message was:
    Unable to connect to the host and port specified
    [a874878adm@sma6333 etc]$

    Reply
    • Hi Juliette,

      First set the proxy variables on the terminal and then try executing the commands, If you wan to use ‘/etc/environment’ file then you have to first source the file using the command:

      # source /etc/environment

      Reply
  2. Hi, My CentOS Server is running on virtualbox, I run privoxy and make a http proxy on port 8118, then set the proxy in yum.conf file like this:
    proxy=192.168.1.104:8118
    This is my main OS ip, but I see “Connection refused …” errro
    with foxyproxy on firefox I am connected with same details , please help

    Reply
  3. I’m not sure the ‘#’ in the password without escaping will be accepted by your system without commenting everything after.

    Reply
  4. In the /etc/environment or root/bash.rc examples how would you account for a domain designation such as “domainname\username”

    http_proxy=http://domain\username:password@proxyaddress:80 does not seem to work.

    In the yum.conf example it works because I can specify the username as a variable… Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

    Reply
  5. The file /etc/environment is a configuration file, not a bash initialization script, so you should not include “export” in these definitions

    Reply

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