What is EPEL

EPEL(Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) is open source and free community based repository project from Fedora team which provides 100% high quality add-on software packages for Linux distribution including RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux), CentOS, and Scientific Linux. Epel project is not a part of RHEL/Cent OS but it is designed for major Linux distributions by providing lots of open source packages like networking, sys admin, programming, monitoring and so on. Most of the epel packages are maintained by Fedora repo.

Why we use EPEL repository?

Provides lots of open source packages to install via Yum.

Epel repo is 100% open source and free to use.

It does not provide any core duplicate packages and no compatibility issues.

All epel packages are maintained by Fedora repo.

How To Enable EPEL Repository in RHEL/CentOS 7/6/5?

First, you need to download the file usingWgetand then install it usingRPMon your system to enable the EPEL repository. Use below links based on your Linux OS versions. (Make sure you must berootuser).

RHEL/CentOS 7 64 Bit

##RHEL/CentOS764-Bit###wgethttp://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/7/x86_64/e/epel-release-7-5.noarch.rpm
#rpm-ivhepel-release-7-5.noarch.rpm

RHEL/CentOS 6 32-64 bit

##RHEL/CentOS632-Bit###wgethttp://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/6/i386/epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm
#rpm-ivhepel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm##RHEL/CentOS664-Bit###wgethttp://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/6/x86_64/epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm
#rpm-ivhepel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm

RHEL/CentOS 5 32-64 bit

##RHEL/CentOS532-Bit###wgethttp://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/5/i386/epel-release-5-4.noarch.rpm
#rpm-ivhepel-release-5-4.noarch.rpm##RHEL/CentOS564-Bit###wgethttp://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/5/x86_64/epel-release-5-4.noarch.rpm
#rpm-ivhepel-release-5-4.noarch.rpm

RHEL/CentOS 4 32-64 bit

##RHEL/CentOS432-Bit###wgethttp://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/4/i386/epel-release-4-10.noarch.rpm
#rpm-ivhepel-release-4-10.noarch.rpm##RHEL/CentOS464-Bit###wgethttp://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/4/x86_64/epel-release-4-10.noarch.rpm
#rpm-ivhepel-release-4-10.noarch.rpm

How Do I Verify EPEL Repo?

You need to run the following command to verify that the EPEL repository is enabled. Once you ran the command you will see epel repository.

#yumrepolist

Sample Output

Loadedplugins:downloadonly,fastestmirror,priorities
Loadingmirrorspeedsfromcachedhostfile
*base:centos.aol.in
*epel:ftp.cuhk.edu.hk
*extras:centos.aol.in
*rpmforge:be.mirror.eurid.eu
*updates:centos.aol.in
ReducingCentOS-5Testingtoincludedpackagesonly
Finished
1469packagesexcludedduetorepositorypriorityprotections
repoidreponamestatus
baseCentOS-5-Base2,718+7epelExtraPackagesforEnterpriseLinux5-i3864,320+1,408extrasCentOS-5-Extras229+53
rpmforgeRedHatEnterprise5-RPMforge.net-dag11,251
repolist:19,075

How Do I Use EPEL Repo?

You need to useYUMcommand for searching and installing packages. For example we search forZabbixpackage using epel repo, lets see it is available or not under epel.

#yum--enablerepo=epelinfozabbix

Sample Output

AvailablePackages
Name:zabbix
Arch:i386
Version:1.4.7
Release:1.el5
Size:1.7MRepo:epelSummary:Open-sourcemonitoringsolutionforyourITinfrastructure
URL:http://www.zabbix.com/
License:GPL
Description:ZABBIXissoftwarethatmonitorsnumerousparametersofanetwork.

Let’s installZabbixpackage using epel repo option�enablerepo=epelswitch.

#yum--enablerepo=epelinstallzabbix

Note: The epel configuration file is located under/etc/yum.repos.d/epel.repo.

This way you can install as many as high standard open source packages usingEPELrepo.