yum -y install yum-cron
This can also be done on Debian and Ubuntu systems if you are feeling left out:
apt-get -y install unattended-upgrades
Configuration on the CentOS/RHEL side is:
da da da da da da da ! Actually that’s all you need to do to enable it, but there are a lot of things you can customise in /etc/yum/yum-cron.conf
[commands] # What kind of update to use: # default = yum upgrade # security = yum --security upgrade # security-severity:Critical = yum --sec-severity=Critical upgrade # minimal = yum --bugfix update-minimal # minimal-security = yum --security update-minimal # minimal-security-severity:Critical = --sec-severity=Critical update-minimal update_cmd = default # Whether a message should be emitted when updates are available, # were downloaded, or applied. update_messages = yes # Whether updates should be downloaded when they are available. download_updates = yes # Whether updates should be applied when they are available. Note # that download_updates must also be yes for the update to be applied. apply_updates = no # Maximum amout of time to randomly sleep, in minutes. The program # will sleep for a random amount of time between 0 and random_sleep # minutes before running. This is useful for e.g. staggering the # times that multiple systems will access update servers. If # random_sleep is 0 or negative, the program will run immediately. # 6*60 = 360 random_sleep = 360 [emitters] # Name to use for this system in messages that are emitted. If # system_name is None, the hostname will be used. system_name = None # How to send messages. Valid options are stdio and email. If # emit_via includes stdio, messages will be sent to stdout; this is useful # to have cron send the messages. If emit_via includes email, this # program will send email itself according to the configured options. # If emit_via is None or left blank, no messages will be sent. emit_via = stdio # The width, in characters, that messages that are emitted should be # formatted to. ouput_width = 80 [email] # The address to send email messages from. email_from = root@localhost # List of addresses to send messages to. email_to = root # Name of the host to connect to to send email messages. email_host = localhost [groups] # NOTE: This only works when group_command != objects, which is now the default # List of groups to update group_list = None # The types of group packages to install group_package_types = mandatory, default [base] # This section overrides yum.conf # Use this to filter Yum core messages # -4: critical # -3: critical+errors # -2: critical+errors+warnings (default) debuglevel = -2 # skip_broken = True mdpolicy = group:main # Uncomment to auto-import new gpg keys (dangerous) # assumeyes = True