How To Enable EPEL Repository in RHEL/CentOS 6/5

Why we use EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) repository ?
Provides lots of open source packages to install via Yum.
Epel repo is 100% open source and free to use.
It does not provide any core duplicate packages and no compatibility issues.
All epel packages are maintained by Fedora repo.

First, you need to download the file using Wget and then install it using RPM on your system to enable the EPEL repository. Use below links based on your Linux OS versions. (Make sure you must be root user).

For RHEL/CentOS 6 32-64 Bit
## RHEL/CentOS 6 32-Bit ##
# wget http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/6/i386/epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm
# rpm -ivh epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm
## RHEL/CentOS 6 64-Bit ##
# wget http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/6/x86_64/epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm
# rpm -ivh epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm
For RHEL/CentOS 5 32-64 Bit
## RHEL/CentOS 5 32-Bit ##
# wget http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/5/i386/epel-release-5-4.noarch.rpm
# rpm -ivh epel-release-5-4.noarch.rpm
## RHEL/CentOS 5 64-Bit ##
# wget http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/5/x86_64/epel-release-5-4.noarch.rpm
# rpm -ivh epel-release-5-4.noarch.rpm
For RHEL/CentOS 4 32-64 Bit
## RHEL/CentOS 4 32-Bit ##
# wget http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/4/i386/epel-release-4-10.noarch.rpm
# rpm -ivh epel-release-4-10.noarch.rpm
## RHEL/CentOS 4 64-Bit ##
# wget http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/4/x86_64/epel-release-4-10.noarch.rpm
# rpm -ivh epel-release-4-10.noarch.rpm
How Do I Verify EPEL Repo?
# yum repolist
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, priorities, refresh-packagekit, security
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
epel/metalink                                            | 5.6 kB     00:00
 * base: centos.aol.in
 * epel: mirror.neu.edu.cn
 * extras: mirrors.digipower.vn
 * remi: fr2.rpmfind.net
 * rpmforge: mir01.syntis.net
 * updates: centos.aol.in
base                                                     | 3.7 kB     00:00
epel                                                     | 4.2 kB     00:03
epel/primary_db                                          | 5.8 MB     01:13
extras                                                   | 3.4 kB     00:00
rpmforge                                                 | 1.9 kB     00:00
updates                                                  | 3.4 kB     00:00
updates/primary_db                                       | 1.3 MB     00:29
repo id        repo name                                               status
base           CentOS-6 - Base                                          6,327+40
epel           Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 6 - x86_64          9,712+518
extras         CentOS-6 - Extras                                              14
remi           Les RPM de remi pour Enterprise Linux 6 - x86_64        200+1,174
rpmforge       RHEL 6 - RPMforge.net - dag                              4,627+23
updates        CentOS-6 - Updates                                         254+43
repolist: 21,134
How Do I Use EPEL Repo?
You need to use YUM command for searching and installing packages. For example we search for Zabbix package using epel repo, lets see it is available or not under epel.
# yum --enablerepo=epel info zabbix
Sample Output
Available Packages
Name       : zabbix
Arch       : i386
Version    : 1.4.7
Release    : 1.el5
Size       : 1.7 M
Repo : epel
Summary    : Open-source monitoring solution for your IT infrastructure
URL        : http://www.zabbix.com/
License    : GPL
Description: ZABBIX is software that monitors numerous parameters of a network
Let’s install Zabbix package using epel repo option –enablerepo=epel switch.
# yum --enablerepo=epel install zabbix
Note: The epel configuration file is located under /etc/yum.repos.d/epel.repo.
This way you can install as many as high standard open source packages using EPEL repo