CentOS 7 automatic updates with yum-cron

yum-cron is an optional package that can be configured to automatically apply updates. It runs from cron and is gated (enabled/disabled) by a systemd service.  Both a daily and an hourly configuration is setup in cron.

The default configuration will not apply the updates.  The following changes are made:

• enable updates to be applied

Install the package

Install the rpm package (the service is enabled, but not started by default):

# yum install yum-cron
# systemctl start yum-cron

Reconfigure

Reconfigure the daily cron task to apply updates:

# sed -ie 's/apply_updates = no/apply_updates = yes/' /etc/yum/yum-cron.conf

Links

• https://thecruskit.com/automatically-applying-patches-to-centos-7/
  
• http://linuxaria.com/howto/enabling-automatic-updates-in-centos-7-and-rhel-7

Appendices

Default configuration

The defaults in '/etc/yum/yum-cron.conf':

[commands]
update_cmd = default
update_messages = yes
download_updates = yes
apply_updates = no
random_sleep = 360

[emitters]
system_name = None
emit_via = stdio
ouput_width = 80

[email]
email_from = root@localhost
email_to = root
email_host = localhost

[groups]
group_list = None
group_package_types = mandatory, default

[base]
debuglevel = -2
mdpolicy = group:main