Configure Third Party Repository on Cisco Open NX-OS

Introduction

This document describes how to setup Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) as third party repository on the Cisco Open NX-OS.

Prerequisites

Requirements

Cisco recommends that you have knowledge of these topics:

• Cisco Open NX-OS
• Domain Name System (DNS)

Components Used

The information in this document is based on Cisco Nexus N9K-C9364C with NXOS version 10.3(4a).

The information in this document was created from the devices in a specific lab environment. All of the devices used in this document started with a cleared (default) configuration. If your network is live, ensure that you understand the potential impact of any command.

Configure

Cisco NX-OS is the network operating system (OS) that powers Cisco Nexus switches across thousands of production environments. It was the first data center network operating system to be built with Linux. Cisco NX-OS has always been powered by Linux, under the hood, and has recentl, exposed many of the Linux capabilities to end-users.

Users can leverage their standard Linux server management tools and workflows to install their custom-developed Linux-based applications, or other standard open source programs, and have them function "out of the box" on the Nexus switch. It is straightfoward to integrate common third-party configuration management agents like Puppet, Chef, and telemetry applications such as ganglia, splunk, collector, nagios on the switch.

Methods

There are two ways to connect Nexus switches to third party repositories.

• Directly: You can reach repository using any layer 3 interface.
• Via Proxy: You can reach repository through proxy using any layer 3 interface.

Configurations

These configurations are implemented on Nexus 9K switch using management VRF for all communications.

Method 1: Directly Connected

Step 1. Enable required features.

Nexus(config)# feature bash

Step 2. Configure DNS client.

Nexus(config)# ip domain-lookup
Nexus(config)# vrf context management 
Nexus(config-vrf)# ip name-server <dns server ip>

Step 3. Configure third party repository file. Here you point to your desired repository.

Note:

This guide uses Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) as example

Vim is pre-installed to edit files.

Cat command is used to show the content file.

Nexus# run bash
bash-4.3$ sudo su -l
root@cisco#cat /etc/yum/repos.d/thirdparty.repo
[thirdparty]
name=Thirdparty RPM Database
baseurl=https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/7/x86_64/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
metadata_expire=0
cost=500
sslverify=0

Step 4. Download proper GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) key on the expected directory.

Note: Management VRF is specified

root@cisco#cd /etc/pki/rpm-gpg
root@cisco#ip netns exec management wget https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-7 

Step 5. Import the GPG key.

root@cisco#rpm --import RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-7 

Method 2: Connected via Proxy

Step 1. Enable required features.

Nexus(config)# feature bash

Step 2. Configure DNS client.

Nexus(config)# ip domain-lookup
Nexus(config)# vrf context management 
Nexus(config-vrf)# ip name-server <dns server ip>

Step 3. Configure options file for yum. Here you point to the proxy.

Note:

The proxy_username and proxy_password options are not required for anonymous proxy.

Timeout value is 60 by default, set the option if you want a different value.

Vim is pre-installed to edit files.

Cat command is used to show the content file.

Nexus# run bash
bash-4.3$ sudo su -l
root@cisco#cat /etc/yum/yum.conf
[main]
cachedir=/var/cache/yum
keepcache=1
debuglevel=2
logfile=/var/log/yum.log
exactarch=1
obsoletes=1
pluginpath=/lib/yum-plugins
plugins=1
proxy=http://<proxy ip>:<proxy port>/
proxy_username=cisco
proxy_password=cisco123
timeout=300

# PUT YOUR REPOS HERE OR IN separate files named file.repo
# in /etc/yum/repos.d

Step 4. Configure third party repository file. Here you point to your desired repository.

Note:

This guide uses Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) as example.

Vim is pre-installed to edit files.

Cat command is used to show the content file.

root@cisco#cat /etc/yum/repos.d/thirdparty.repo
[thirdparty]
name=Thirdparty RPM Database
baseurl=https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/7/x86_64/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
metadata_expire=0
cost=500
sslverify=0

Step 5. Setup proxy for https connections.

root@cisco#export https_proxy=http://<proxy ip>:<proxy port>

Step 6. Download proper GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) key on the expected directory.

Note: Management VRF is specified

root@cisco#cd /etc/pki/rpm-gpg
root@cisco#ip netns exec management wget https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-7 

Step 7. Import the GPG key.

root@cisco#rpm --import RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-7 

Verify

This guide installs SHC package to verify third party respository has been configured properly.

Note: Management VRF is specified on every command

Step 1.Confirm Nexus is able to fetch packages.

root@cisco#ip netns exec management yum repolist
Loaded plugins: downloadonly, importpubkey, localrpmDB, patchaction, patching,
              : protect-packages
groups-repo                                              | 1.1 kB     00:00 ... 
localdb                                                  |  951 B     00:00 ... 
patching                                                 |  951 B     00:00 ... 
thirdparty                                               | 4.7 kB     00:00     
wrl-repo                                                 |  951 B     00:00 ... 
repo id                        repo name                                  status
groups-repo                    Groups-RPM Database                            46
localdb                        Local RPM Database                              0
patching                       Patch-RPM Database                              0
thirdparty                     Thirdparty RPM Database                    13,798
wrl-repo                       Groups-RPM Database                            12
repolist: 13,856

Step 2. Install SHC package

root@cisco#ip netns exec management yum install shc
Loaded plugins: downloadonly, importpubkey, localrpmDB, patchaction, patching,
              : protect-packages
groups-repo                                              | 1.1 kB     00:00 ... 
groups-repo/primary                                      |  35 kB     00:00 ... 
groups-repo                                                               46/46
localdb                                                  |  951 B     00:00 ... 
localdb/primary                                          |  197 B     00:00 ... 
patching                                                 |  951 B     00:00 ... 
patching/primary                                         |  197 B     00:00 ... 
thirdparty                                               | 4.7 kB     00:00     
thirdparty/primary_db                                    | 7.0 MB     00:25     
wrl-repo                                                 |  951 B     00:00 ... 
wrl-repo/primary                                         | 4.2 kB     00:00 ... 
wrl-repo                                                                  12/12
Setting up Install Process
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package shc.x86_64 0:4.0.3-1.el7 will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

================================================================================
 Package      Arch            Version                 Repository           Size
================================================================================
Installing:
 shc          x86_64          4.0.3-1.el7             thirdparty           38 k

Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install       1 Package

Total download size: 38 k
Installed size: 90 k
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
shc-4.0.3-1.el7.x86_64.rpm                               |  38 kB     00:00     
Running Transaction Check
Running Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
** Found 1 pre-existing rpmdb problem(s), 'yum check' output follows:
busybox-1.23.2-r0.0.x86_64 has missing requires of busybox-syslog
  Installing : shc-4.0.3-1.el7.x86_64                                       1/1 

Installed:
  shc.x86_64 0:4.0.3-1.el7                                                      

Complete!
Install operation 21 completed successfully at Tue Apr  9 23:36:10 2024.

[####################] 100%

Step 3. Confirm SHC is installed.

root@cisco#shc
shc parse(-f): No source file specified

shc Usage: shc [-e date] [-m addr] [-i iopt] [-x cmnd] [-l lopt] [-o outfile] [-rvDSUHCABh] -f script

Related Links

Open NX-OS

Programmability and Automation with Cisco Open NX-OS

Repository for Cisco Nexus Switch Programmability Scripts