We encourage large groups and organizations to create their own local mirrors. It should decrease the time it takes for you to update your systems.
If you mirror Scientific Linux you do not have to join the public mirror list. We will only add sites which request public listing.
All mirrors—public or private—must subscribe to the scientific-linux-mirrors list. This is the best way we have to notify you of any changes that will effect you.
For private mirrors, we ask that you use one of the public rsync servers provided by our public mirrors.
How much space do I need to mirror?
Due to our extensive use of hardlinks, this question isn’t as easy to answer as you’d expect. Each individual release, complete with errata is about 50G. Each following minor release extends this size by about 10G. We can’t easily forecast the disk consumption, but this is a way of getting an educated guess.
How To Mirror With rsync
Any system connecting to the official public rsync server must have a valid reverse lookup record. Systems without a valid reverse record may be unable to connect or retrieve any data.
The main Scientific Linux tree makes extensive use of hardlinks to save space. Ensure your local file system supports hardlinks or you will face significant space utilization.
Most rsync users are familiar with the command, so these examples here can be modified to your needs. For space saving purposes, you can easily exclude SRPMS, install images, and debuginfo. If you don’t need something, exclude it!
For mirroring SL6x or SL7x
rsync -avkSH --delete --delete-after --exclude=archive/debuginfo --exclude=archive/obsolete --exclude=SRPMS rsync://rsync.scientificlinux.org/scientific/6x/ /export/pub/linux/scientific/6x/
To mirror other releases simply modify the commands above.
How To Become A Public Mirror
Your mirror must not exclude any application rpms or install images. You may exclude SRPMS and debuginfo as they are less often needed. A good example of what you are permitted to exclude is provided in the sample commands above.
Before your mirror can be considered for public posting you must perform the following:
- join the ‘scientific-linux-mirrors‘ list
- decide how much of the distribution to mirror
- ensure you have sufficient disk space for future updates
Once you’ve done that please fill out the following form as and email it to SCIENTIFIC-LINUX-MIRRORS-REQUEST@LISTSERV.FNAL.GOV. The listserv will send a reply asking you to confirm your subscription.
Contact Person(s): Email Addresses For Contact(s): Mirror Sponsor: City and Country of Mirror: Mirroring: Synchronization frequency: HTTP URL for access (must end in 'scientific'): OPTIONAL FTP URL for access (must end in 'scientific'): OPTIONAL RSYNC URL for access (must end in 'scientific'):
While HTTP access is required, any other protocols are optional and you may elect not to provide them.
For the Mirroring section your entry should contain one of the following:
- All – for mirroring the entire distribution (this takes up a lot of space)
- SL# – for mirroring all minor releases (ie 6.0 – 6.11) for a given major version. Such as SL6, or SL7
- #x – for mirroring the ‘x’ release of a given major version. Such as 6x or 7x.
At this time we cannot accept submissions for public mirrors of other parts of the distribution tree.
