Re: [TCLUG:18516] Squid as an httpd-accelerator

[Clay Fandre <cfandre@cfsmo.honeywell.com>]

Timothy Wilson wrote:
> 
> Hey everyone,
> 
> I've just finished reading the FAQ at http://www.squid-cache.org/, but I'm
> left with a question.
> 
> How is it possible that running an additional service can speed up a normal
> (i.e., static) httpd server. I can understand putting Squid in front of
> something like Zope (that's why I was reading the FAQ) to cache parts of the
> site that don't change often, but what good would it be to "accelerate" a
> static Apache site?
> 

Squid acts just like your local Netscape cache, but in a global sense.
(Squid is meant to be on your local network) When a page gets accessed
via squid, it stores it in cache locally on the squid server. Anyone
else accessing that site will get the cached (local) page, thus avoiding
going out to the internet to get it. If you have a slow connection to
the internet, it will help a great deal. I set it up here and have
around 20 users using it. On average it gets about a 5-10% hit rate. The
more users you have using it, the higher the hit rate. (usually)

I also like the logging capabilities of squid. Plus you can use
sleezeball with squid to block all of those annoying banner ads. You can
also restrict access to sites if you want.

The overhead of squid is negligible. If you have a fast machine with a
lot of RAM, you will never notice.


-- 
Clay Fandre
UNIX System Administrator
Honeywell, Intl. / CAP
cfandre@cfsmo.honeywell.com
(763)957-3678