Hi there,

i hav been running a >200 user squid box/router/gateway running on redhat 9.0 for the past 3 months and has been quite stable. My network is growing rapidly and i am thinking of consolidating my hardware and software.

My linuxbox runs redhat 9.0 and is an x86 box with 1g ram and 80g HDD.i have a rack and so i have ordered an IBM 1U rack with dual processors 2.4ghz,1g ECC RAM, raid controllers, 76.8 SCSI HDDs,2 intel NICs etc. i am thinking of running RHEL or SLES 9, i dont mind buying and support, i just want the very best for my network and reduce downtime and low as possible. i am bent on using the rack, but i wud like the advice on which distro to go with and what are the advantages. Thanks

D.

So far I've been very happy with CentOS 4.1 for my Web/E-mail server. It's a RHEL clone. Free to use but support is limited to online discussion boards.

I use SuSE 9.3 pro for my firewall/gateway/dhcp server running a squid proxy. SuSE's YaST control panel let me configure everything with a GUI interface and I think I've only had to reboot the thing twice in the last 4 months.

I think you'd be happy with any of the three, either RHEL, SLE, or a free RHEL clone.

Hi,

Thanks msound for the advice, i feel i am ok with suse too, but i feel for my hardware that SLES will be too good for it so that i can optimise what i got but cost is a downside for the RHEL and SLES.I feel suse pro (or opensuse) can still work with my hardware 1U rack.there are 2 options --- go for the enterprise of wch i feel SLES is a good choice or still go the hard core distros of wch i am looking @ FC4 or suse 9.3 or opensuse 10.0

what u think?

D

for squid distribution does not matter, it matters that how you tune your squid for optimal performance.

here are some simple tips that i have learnt

1.use aufs storage and increase aufs threads as the load increases.
2.tune your filedescripts limit.
3.decrease tcp timeout value using sysctl.
4.compile your kernel.
5.disable logging.
6.use separate partitions for squid storage and use ext2.

for best performance of squid freebsd is highly recommended with diskd storage scheme.

I would want to know the these distros can install seamlessly on this server:

P3 DUAL CPU 1.1GHz processor
1G ECC SDRAM
2X 36.4 SCSI DISKS
2 Intel NICs
PROMISE RAID CARD
2 USB PORTS
CDROM
FLOPPY
1U FORM FACTOR

thanks for ur opinions

D.