I am new to the world of proxying and need some help in setting up a caching server.

I am experimenting with a whole new network configuration for the company where I work and we would like to make a caching proxy a central part of our network management.

We would like to be able to cache as much web traffic as possible. The main reason is so we can back track what has been accessed. However, having commonly accessed web files cached to lessen bandwidth use is an additional benefit we are seeking. If possible we also want to be able to seemlessly integrate it into the system, so that without manually configuring each workstation the proxy is used (thinking running "transparent").

I selected Squid since it is mainstream and established but I am open to other alternatives, provided that they are not too costly. I already have a test server running squid3 on Ubuntu 10.10 and looking through the access.log file it seems that it does pass traffic (I have manually configured the browser on my test machine to use the proxy). However, I am not sure if it is caching properly, after editing squid.conf to include an uncommented entry for cache_dir, cache.log does show some caching, though I don't think it is caching enough given the traffic I am running through the proxy.

Any help on this would be very much appreciated.

BTW to sum up (in case anyone has any suggestions for alternative proxy packages) here is the criteria I was given:

1. caches web traffic in human readable format (preferably the network admin can load the cache directly in a browser too see the objects)

2. serves cached objects to reduce load and admin times (such as when downloading windows updates or anti-virus definitions)

3. proxy can be seemlessly integrated, requiring no changes on client workstations

Based on my research I am ready to give up on number 1 as there doesn't seem be any package that can do it. Number 2 is the main part I would like help with. I havn't started trying anything with number 3 yet but I suspect that I will need to run the proxy "transparent".

For point 1 take a look at Sarg.

If you want to manage windows updates downloads and have a Windows server use WSUS.

IIRC squid won't generally cache large files as it won't perform very will in doing so. Once you factor in the time it will take to search the disk and stuff you may as well have already downloaded the file(s). Ok, for large MS updates and stuff this may not be the case.

For point 3 take a look at transparent proxy features. You will need a firewall to pass traffic from port 80 and 443 to your squid box.

Jon

1 members found this post helpful.

thanks, this has saved me many hours of googling in circles lol