In this post you will learn how to enable automatic system updates for your CentOS 7 / RHEL 7 system.


Update your system

It might be a good idea to update your system before installing something. Kind of ironic isn’t it? We’ll do it anyway.

[root@centos ~]# yum update


Install yum-cron

[root@centos ~]# yum install yum-cron


Configure yum-cron

This will enable daily updates

[root@centos ~]# vi /etc/yum/yum-cron.conf

apply_updates = yes

This will enable hourly security updates

[root@centos ~]# vi /etc/yum/yum-cron-hourly.conf

update_cmd = security
update_messages = yes
download_updates = yes
apply_updates = yes


Start yum-cron

Lastly start yum-cron and enable it to start automatically at boot time

[root@centos ~]# systemctl enable yum-cron
[root@centos ~]# systemctl start yum-cron