Which fleet of machines needs a local OS update repository?

Question

System administration

Actually% subject%. So far there is a virtual cluster of 8 machines on CentOS and Debian, which are periodically updated and upgraded from the official repositories and their mirrors. Plus a bit of "custom" software. It seems that updating is nothing at all, a little bit, but multiplying this “little bit” by the entire zoo, you get a Number.
At what zoo (number of cars) is it worth bothering with a local repo and what options can there be?

Answer 1

For Debian, there is such a tricky thing as a caching update server, like apt-cacher-ng it. It turns out that you do not need to download and store the entire mirror, but if the machines request the same packages, then they are downloaded only once from the external network.

Answer 2

I believe that with an amount > 2, you should get a caching proxy for updates.
For debian I use approx. for centos there seems to be some kind of mrepo.

Answer 3

I have gentoo, but in this case I don't see much difference. I made my mirror when one more server was added to 3 desktops and 3 servers. Labor costs are minimal, you only need a good channel and 200 gigs of space.
By the way, I'm wondering how much space a debian mirror will require?

Answer 4

When the speed of external mirrors ceases to suit.
And so - a caching server is a good idea.

Answer 5

Do not forget also that the presence of a local repository will create an additional load on the server if a separate server is not allocated for the distribution of updates. As well as an additional administrative task.

Answer 6

Thank you all, everyone is karmirovanny. )