How to Download and Install Software (CentOS 7)

Typically, when you think of downloading or installing software on a computer, doing so using an installation wizard with a GUI probably comes to mind. However, on a Linux-based server installing software through the command line is the preferred way. It may seem a bit daunting at first. However, the focus of this article is to help walk you through downloading and installing software on a Linux server running CentOS 7. By following this guide, we are confident that you'll be able to install any software on your CentOS 7 based server successfully.

How To Download And Install Software Using YUM On CentOS 7

Before we begin, please ensure that you're logged into your server via SSH. If you're not certain how to access your server via SSH, please refer to our guide: Connecting to Your Server via SSH.

Once you're connected to your server via SSH, please proceed with the following steps to install software on your CentOS 7 server. For this guide, we will be installing the popular text editor nano using the Yum package manager. The process is fairly simple and can generally be accomplished with a one-line command. In the case of installing nano, this can be achieved using the following command:

yum install nano

After you issue this command, you'll be prompted to confirm the installation of the software by pressing "y". Alternatively, you can install the software without the need to confirm the installation by utilizing the "y" option, as you can see via the following:

yum install nano -y

Once the installation process is complete and providing there are no errors, your selected software should now be installed and ready to use. In regards to the example used in this guide, you'd be able to begin using nano to edit your text-based files.