Squid Package Tuning

Performance Tweaks

Some users have reported that making the following change has greatly increased performance:

• Edit /boot/loader.conf.local
• Change kern.ipc.nmbclusters="0" to kern.ipc.nmbclusters="32768"
• Reboot the pfSense router

Some people have also seen better performance by using the ufs cache filesystem setting. When using ufs filesystem you could possibly increase vfs.read_max=32 to vfs.read_max=128 in System -> Advanced -> Sytem Tunables. Read more.

Compact swap.state

Squid will keep a cache index journal called swap.state in the top level of the squid cache folder, typically /var/squid/cache/swap.sate. This file can grow very large and consume all of your hard drive space if you are not careful. To ensure this does not happen, set a "log rotate" value in the squid configuration.

By setting a number of days to retain the logs, the squid package will activate a nightly cron job which runs:

squid -k rotate

Part of this rotation process includes compacting the swap.state file, keeping it from getting too large.

If you notice this file is too large and you remove it, you may do so while squid is running. After the file is removed, run:

squid -k rotate

This will cause it to be written out again (but compacted). Alternately, you can tell squid to perform a clean shutdown with

squid -k shutdown

This will also write the swap.state file out again, but squid will stop after this and must be restarted, so it is a less desriable option.

If you remove the swap.state file while squid is not running, it will have to completely rescan your cache folder to rebuild it once squid is started back up. This can be a lengthy and time consuming process. It may be better to remove the contents of the existing cache folder, and rebuild the structure again by running:

squid -z

See the Squid FAQ entry for more details.

Random Tips/Tricks

WARNING

There could be any number of reasons not to do the following things. Be careful, and test any changes.

Caching Windows Updates

WARNING

These settings could break things, but when it works it works beautifully!

If you have a bunch of local PCs that need Windows Updates, but you do not/cannot have a WSUS server, squid can cache them for you.

• On the General Settings tab of the squid config (Services > Proxy Server), place the following in the Custom Options box at the bottom:

refresh_pattern ([^.]+.|)(download|(windows|)update|).(microsoft.|)com/.*\.(cab|exe|msi|msp) 4320 100% 43200 reload-into-ims;
range_offset_limit -1;

• Click save
• On the Cache Management tab of the Squid config:
  • Change Hard Disk Cache size to something large, say 3000 or 4000 (3GB or 4GB), to accommodate the updates.
  • Change the Maximum object size to something big, such as 512000 for 512MB. Going bigger may be needed if any updates larger than that size are released.
• Click Save

If that refresh pattern does not work, try:

refresh_pattern ([^.]+\.)?(download|(windows)?update)\.(microsoft\.)?com/.*\.(cab|exe|msi|msp|psf) 4320 100% 43200 reload-into-ims; range_offset_limit -1;

Caching Mac Updates

refresh_pattern ([^.]+.|)(download|adcdownload).(apple.|)com/.*\.(pkg|dmg) 4320 100% 43200 reload-into-ims;

Caching AVG and other Updates

As above, but add this before the other options. The same warnings apply:

refresh_pattern ([^.]+.|)avg.com/.*\.(bin) 4320 100% 43200 reload-into-ims;
refresh_pattern ([^.]+.|)spywareblaster.net/.*\.(dtb) 4320 100% 64800 reload-into-ims;
refresh_pattern ([^.]+.|)symantecliveupdate.com/.*\.(zip|exe) 43200 100% 43200 reload-into-ims
refresh_pattern ([^.]+.|)avast.com/.*\.(vpu|vpaa) 4320 100% 43200 reload-into-ims

Tweaking Update Caching / Squid seems to download on its own

From here. Change This:

range_offset_limit -1;

To:

range_offset_limit 0;

You might also want to try:

quick_abort_min 0 KB;
quick_abort_max 0 KB;

-or-

quick_abort_pct 70;

To ensure that a file is only downloaded if a user actually receives 70% or more of it. Otherwise if a user requests a file and then aborts, it will download the whole file.

NOTE: If range_offset_limit ist set to -1 the quick abort options will NOT work

Parent proxy

Setting parent proxy available at the 'Proxy server: Upstream proxy settings' tab. In most cases, these settings are working, if the parent proxy also squid. If you want to use a parent proxy another server (not squid), it is necessary to disable 'Upstream proxy settings', and use the' Custom options' in the 'Proxy server: General settings' tab. For example for use as a parent proxy installed package HAVP need to add the line 'cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 3121 7 no-query' (Here havp configured to use the ip 127.0.0.1 port 3121).

More about Squid & Havp see HERE.