# Using Sonatype Nexus Repository 3 – Part 1: Maven Artifacts

**February 21, 2017**  
By Rafael Eyng

5 minute read time

_This article is the first in a three part series by one of our community advocates, Rafael Eyng._

NOTE: We are constantly improving [Sonatype Nexus Repository](/content/products/sonatype-nexus-repository/index.html). This blog may no longer be accurate. You can find the latest instructions [here](https://help.sonatype.com/en/sonatype-nexus-repository.html).

## Installation

Install it with Docker:

```
docker run -d -p 8081:8081 -p 8082:8082 -p 8083:8083
--name my-nexus sonatype/nexus3:3.0.0
```

We are mapping all those ports (8081-8083) because of the next posts in the series. For this post, we'll actually only need port 8081.

Sonatype Nexus Repository 3 will go up on port 8081. Default credentials are admin/admin123.

You might want to create a volume to map the Sonatype Nexus Repository data folder to your host, adding the option `-v /opt/my-nexus-data:/nexus-data`.

## Configuring Sonatype Nexus Repository as a Maven Repository

What we will do:

- Create a private (hosted) repository for our snapshots.
- Create a private (hosted) repository for our releases.
- Create a proxy repository pointing to [Maven Central](https://central.sonatype.com/).
- Create a group repository to provide all these repositories under a single URL.

I suggest you create a new blob store for each new repository you want to create. That way, the data for every repository will be in a different folder in `/nexus-data` (inside the Docker container). But this is not mandatory for it to work.

### Snapshots Repository

A repository for Maven Artifacts that you deploy **with**`-SNAPSHOT` in the end of the version tag of your pom.xml:

```
<version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
```

Create a new Maven (hosted) repository and configure it like so:

### Releases Repository

A repository for Maven Artifact that you deploy **without**`-SNAPSHOT` in the end of the version tag of your pom.xml:

```
<version>1.0.0</version>
```

Create a new Maven (hosted) repository and configure it like so:

###   Proxy to Maven Central Repository

A repository that proxies everything you download from Maven Central. Next time you download the same [dependency](/content/resources/articles/what-are-software-dependencies/index.html), it will be cached in your Sonatype Nexus Repository.

Create a new Maven (proxy) repository and configure it like so:

### Group Repository

This will group all the above repositories and provide you with a single URL to configure your clients to download from/deploy to.

Create a new Maven (group) repository and configure it like so:

You can create as many repositories as you need (like proxies to other public repositories) and group them all in the group repository.

## Configuring Your Clients and Projects to Use Your Sonatype Nexus Repository

Put this in your `~/.m2/settings.xml` file. This will configure the credentials to publish to your hosted repositories, and will tell your `mvn` to use your repository as a mirror of Central:

```
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<settings xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.1.0"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.1.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/settings-1.1.0.xsd">

<servers>
    <server>
      <id>nexus-snapshots</id>
      <username>admin</username>
      <password>admin123</password>
    </server>
    <server>
      <id>nexus-releases</id>
      <username>admin</username>
      <password>admin123</password>
    </server>
  </servers>

<mirrors>
    <mirror>
      <id>central</id>
      <name>central</name>
      <url>http://your-host:8081/repository/maven-group/</url>
      <mirrorOf>*</mirrorOf>
    </mirror>
  </mirrors>

</settings>
```

And now configure your projects.

If you want only to download dependencies from Sonatype Nexus Repository, put this in the `pom.xml`:

```
<project ...>
  ...
  <repositories>
    <repository>
      <id>maven-group</id>
      <url>http://your-host:8081/repository/maven-group/</url>
    </repository>
  </repositories>
</project>
```

And if you want also to publish your project, add:

```
<project ...>
  ...
  <distributionManagement>
    <snapshotRepository>
      <id>nexus-snapshots</id>
      <url>http://your-host:8081/repository/maven-snapshots/</url>
    </snapshotRepository>
    <repository>
      <id>nexus-releases</id>
      <url>http://your-host:8081/repository/maven-releases/</url>
    </repository>
  </distributionManagement>
</project>
```

Now if you run in your projects:

```
mvn install
# or
mvn deploy
```

your `mvn` will point to your Sonatype Nexus Repository instance.

.png?width=150&height=150&name=Sonatype-Logo-Symbol%20(1).png)

Written by **Rafael Eyng**  
Tags  
Maven, Product, Sonatype Nexus Repository, Sonatype Nexus 3