Setup yum repository for update/install from ISO image

After the RHEL5 installation without the registration key, it is not possible to get repository updates/setup as system is not registered with RHN (Red Hat Network). However, yum repository can be setup using the local RHEL ISO image in following steps:

1. Create directory for mounting

  $ mkdir -p /cdrom/iso

2. Mount the iso at the loopback device

  $ mount -o loop </path/to/iso-file> /cdrom/iso

3. Create a repository using the the mounted directory

  $ cd /cdrom

  $ createrepo .

  $ yum clean all

4. Create a yum repo file

  $ cat /etc/yum.repos.d/file.repo

     [RHEL]

     baseurl=file:///cdrom/

     enabled=1

     gpgcheck=0

Troubleshoot:

  * If createrepo package is not installed, find it into the mounted directory & and install first

   $ find /cdrom/iso/ -name "*createrepo*"

   $ rpm -ivh /cdrom/iso/Server/createrepo*.rpm 


Mounting permanently:
To mount /cdrom/iso permanently, a entry need to made in /etc/fstab
/iso-name /cdrom/iso iso9660 ro,loop 0 0