diff --git a/roles/config_repos/files/monashhpc_base.repo b/roles/config_repos/files/monashhpc_base.repo
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..8f0d9aeee8c78a5a4d56b826e8ab100833d88bd0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/config_repos/files/monashhpc_base.repo
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+# Place this file in your /etc/yum.repos.d/ directory
+
+[monashhpc_base]
+name=MonashHPC base repository mirrored to control the update process
+baseurl=https://consistency0/centos/$releasever/os/$basearch/
+enabled=1
+sslverify=false
+
+[monashhpc_udpates]
+name=MonashHPC base repository mirrored to control the update process
+baseurl=https://consistency0/centos/$releasever/updates/$basearch/
+enabled=1
+sslverify=false
+
+[monashhpc_extras]
+name=MonashHPC base repository mirrored to control the update process
+baseurl=https://consistency0/centos/$releasever/extras/$basearch/
+enabled=1
+sslverify=false
+
+[monashhpc_centosplus]
+name=MonashHPC base repository mirrored to control the update process
+baseurl=https://consistency0/centos/$releasever/centosplus/$basearch/
+enabled=1
+sslverify=false
diff --git a/roles/config_repos/files/monashhpc_others.repo b/roles/config_repos/files/monashhpc_others.repo
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..e78702bf53f5fe0a1284c0474aac75bba615aabd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/config_repos/files/monashhpc_others.repo
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# Place this file in your /etc/yum.repos.d/ directory
+
+[monashhpc_otherstuff]
+name=MonashHPC base repository mirrored to control the update process
+baseurl=https://consistency0/centos/hpcsystems/$releasever/$basearch/
+enabled=1
+sslverify=false
+gpgcheck=0
diff --git a/roles/config_repos/tasks/main.yml b/roles/config_repos/tasks/main.yml
index 6d2efb6b166f5be9d2e4d3efaeee94ecef7e3058..7feaa7de6355f7e648ed437cdf6b86b3b76a3431 100644
--- a/roles/config_repos/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/config_repos/tasks/main.yml
@@ -1,18 +1,33 @@
 ---
-# this repository was broken on some CentOS images. Remove it.
-- name: Removing the RDO repository
-  file: path=/etc/yum.repos.d/rdo-release.repo state=absent
-  sudo: true
 
-- name: add gluster repo
-  copy: src=glusterfs-epel.repo dest=/etc/yum.repos.d/glusterfs-epel.repo
+- name: make sure out repo server is resolvable
+  lineinfile: dest=/etc/hosts line="118.138.244.7 consistency0"
   sudo: true
-  when: ansible_os_family == 'RedHat'
 
-- name: Install epel-release
-  yum: name=epel-release-7-5.noarch state=present
+- name: remove default repos
+  file:
+    path: /usr/yum.repos.d/{{ item }}
+    state: absent
+  become: true
+  become_user: root
+  with_items:
+  - CentOS-Base.repo
+  - CentOS-Debuginfo.repo
+  - CentOS-fasttrack.repo
+  - CentOS-Sources.repo
+  - CentOS-Vault.repo
+  - foreman.repo
+  - puppetlabs.repo
+  - rdo-release.repo
+  when: ansible_os_family == 'RedHat' and ansible_distribution_major_version == "7"
+
+- name: add our repos
+  copy: src={{ item }} dest=/etc/yum.repos.d/{{ item }}
   sudo: true
-  when: ansible_distribution == "CentOS" and ansible_distribution_major_version == "7"
+  when: ansible_os_family == 'RedHat' and ansible_distribution_major_version == "7"
+  with_items:
+  - monashhpc_base.repo
+  - monashhpc_others.repo
 
 
 #- name: Enable epel