The article walks you through setting up Artifactory OSS on RHEL 8, CentOS 8 or Rocky Linux 8 by adding JFrog’s official Yum repo, installing a Java 11 runtime, and downloading the RPM directly from that repository. Before you begin it lists key prerequisites: a 64‑bit host with sudo access, at least four gigabytes of RAM, SSH connectivity, and an early SELinux configuration set to permissive to avoid post‑reboot permission problems. Once Java is installed, the guide installs the jfrog-artifactory-oss package, places it under /opt/jfrog, tweaks the systemd unit to raise the JVM heap to 2 GB minimum, reloads daemon configurations and then enables the service. You can verify the installation by checking the service status or visiting http://your-host:8081/artifactory, logging in with admin/password, and referring to /opt/jfrog/artifactory/var/log/server.log if anything goes wrong.

How To Install JFrog Artifactory on RHEL 8 / CentOS 8 / Rocky Linux 8

Installing Artifactory on a fresh RHEL‑style box can feel like an arcane rite of passage, but it’s really just a matter of getting the right Java in place and telling the package manager where to find the binaries. Below is a straight‑to‑the‑point guide that will have your Artifactory instance running in under 30 minutes—no mystic scrolls required.

Prerequisites

• A 64‑bit RHEL 8, CentOS 8, or Rocky Linux 8 host with a sudo‑enabled user.
• At least 4 GB of RAM (Artifactory can be memory hungry if you enable the database).
• OpenSSH access (or a local console) so you can issue commands without a GUI.

> I’ve seen people stumble right after the first reboot when they forget to set SELinux to permissive for the Artifactory data directory. Setting it early on prevents a cascade of “permission denied” errors later.

Add the JFrog Repository

JFrog publishes an official Yum repo that bundles the Artifactory RPM, its dependencies, and updates.

sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/jfrog.repo <<EOF
[jfrog]
name=JFrog Artifactory Repository
baseurl=https://releases.jfrog.io/artifactory/rpm/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
EOF

By pointing Yum at the JFrog mirror you avoid manually downloading a .rpm, and future updates will come through yum update.

Install Java (JDK 11 or newer)

Artifactory runs on HotSpot 11+, so let’s install it via the Red Hat Developer Toolset.

sudo dnf install -y java-11-openjdk-devel

After installation, confirm with java -version. If you already had Java installed, make sure it’s version 11 or later; otherwise Artifactory will refuse to start.

> In my last build server upgrade I ran into a fatal JVM error because the system default was still 8. Switching to 11 solved that in seconds.

Download and Deploy Artifactory

# Pull the latest Artifactory OSS RPM
sudo dnf install -y jfrog-artifactory-oss

# This will automatically place /opt/jfrog/artifactory in the correct location.

The RPM installs everything under /opt/jfrog. No manual extraction needed.

Configure Systemd Service

Artifactory ships a systemd unit file, but you’ll want to tweak Java options for production. Edit /etc/systemd/system/artifactory.service.d/override.conf (create the directory if it doesn’t exist) and add:

[Service]
Environment="JAVA_OPTS=-Xms2g -Xmx4g"

The default heap is tiny for a repository manager. A 2 GB minimum prevents OOM errors when you start pulling large binaries.

Reload systemd to pick up the changes:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Start & Verify

sudo systemctl enable --now artifactory
# Check status
systemctl status artifactory | grep Active

# Open a browser and go to http://your-host:8081/artifactory

If you see the login screen, congratulations—you’ve got Artifactory up and running. The default credentials are admin / password; change them immediately.

That’s it. You now have a fully functional Artifactory OSS instance on RHEL 8‑based distros. If you hit a snag, check /opt/jfrog/artifactory/var/log/server.log—the logs usually point straight to the issue.