How to set the system proxy in openSUSE and SLES

System-wide proxy policy matters on SUSE hosts that reach package repositories, update services, or outbound web endpoints only through a controlled gateway. Setting the proxy once at the OS level keeps interactive shells, YaST-driven maintenance, and other proxy-aware tools aligned with the same network path instead of repeating one-off environment exports in every session.

On openSUSE and SLES, the YaST proxy module writes the main proxy endpoints and bypass list to /etc/sysconfig/proxy. New login shells read that file through /etc/profile.d/profile.sh and export the matching http_proxy, https_proxy, ftp_proxy, no_proxy, and NO_PROXY variables when PROXY_ENABLED is set to yes.

Credentials and runtime scope need extra care before enabling the policy. yast proxy authentication stores proxy credentials for root-owned curl access under /root/.curlrc, but existing shells do not inherit new values until the next login, and long-running services may still need their own environment or a restart if they do not read the interactive shell profile.

1. Confirm that the YaST proxy client is available on the host.

   $ sudo yast proxy summary

2. Install the matching YaST proxy module only if the previous command reports that the proxy client is unavailable.

   $ sudo zypper install --no-confirm yast2-proxy

3. Set the HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and bypass values that should become the system policy.

   $ sudo yast proxy set \
       http=http://proxy.example.com:3128/ \
       https=http://proxy.example.com:3128/ \
       ftp=http://proxy.example.com:3128/ \
       noproxy=localhost,127.0.0.1,.example.com

   The noproxy= value becomes the NO_PROXY and no_proxy bypass list exported to new login shells.

4. Add proxy authentication only when the proxy requires a username and password.

   $ sudo yast proxy authentication username=proxyuser password='REDACTED'

   This stores the credential for root-owned curl access under /root/.curlrc. Tools that do not read that file may still need their own authenticated proxy settings.

5. Enable the configured proxy policy.

   $ sudo yast proxy enable

6. Verify that the saved system policy now exists in /etc/sysconfig/proxy.

   $ grep -E '^(PROXY_ENABLED|HTTP_PROXY|HTTPS_PROXY|FTP_PROXY|NO_PROXY)=' /etc/sysconfig/proxy
   PROXY_ENABLED="yes"
   HTTP_PROXY="http://proxy.example.com:3128/"
   HTTPS_PROXY="http://proxy.example.com:3128/"
   FTP_PROXY="http://proxy.example.com:3128/"
   NO_PROXY="localhost,127.0.0.1,.example.com"

   This confirms the durable sysconfig state even before the current shell is refreshed.

7. Start a fresh login shell, or sign out and back in, before testing the exported proxy environment.

   Current shells keep their old environment until a new login session reads /etc/profile.d/profile.sh again.

8. Confirm that the new login session now exports the proxy variables from the saved policy.

   $ env | grep -i 'proxy' | sort
   NO_PROXY=localhost,127.0.0.1,.example.com
   SOCKS_PROXY=
   ftp_proxy=http://proxy.example.com:3128/
   gopher_proxy=
   http_proxy=http://proxy.example.com:3128/
   https_proxy=http://proxy.example.com:3128/
   no_proxy=localhost,127.0.0.1,.example.com
   socks_proxy=

   The empty SOCKS and gopher variables come from the stock SUSE profile logic and are normal when only HTTP-style proxy fields were configured.