[NTLUG:Discuss] squid

[cbbrowne@godel.brownes.org]

On Fri, 03 Sep 1999 13:18:12 CDT, the world broke into rejoicing as
Greg E <Gregory.Edwards at usa.alcatel.com>  said:
> What is squid?  I look at the README but it only talks about how wonderful
> it is an not what it is.
> 
> The last couple of nights I've noticed a connect on my line and it would
> just stay up even though I wasn't doing anything.  At first I thought it was
> comming from a cron job RH install had left in cron for a news ftpget but I
> got that out and it still connected.  I finally tracked it down to squid
> and the log shows some real long $$$$$ connects doing an ftpget!!  I've got
> it off now but I'm interested in anything I can find out about it.

Squid is a "cacheing web proxy."

What that means is twofold:
a) It is a web proxy, namely a program that will handle web accesses for
   other programs.   

This tends to be a way of better managing internet connections:
 - You have one box with access to the internet, and
 - All other machines/processes go through the proxy.
 - The proxy logs what's going on so that if one of the users is hitting
   www.penthouse.com, you can check the logs and know that someone may
   need talking to...

b) It is a *cacheing* proxy, which means that it keeps copies of what
   it gets around because Someone Else Might Need It Too.

This tends to reduce traffic, as it is quite possible that what you
want to access is already in the cache.

c) (more than two things :-)) Squid can be used as a URL blocker, to
   block out web/ftp sites that you may find objectionable.

If suitably configured, it's pretty useful as it lets caches be shared
across web browsers and users and sessions.  But you don't absolutely
*need* it...
--
"Bonus!  The lack of multitasking is one of the most important reasons
why DOS destroyed Unix in the marketplace." -- Scott Nudds
cbbrowne at hex.net- <http://www.ntlug.org/~cbbrowne/lsf.html>