Re: [squid-users] Disk performance basics

Thanks for the info. I've been using XFS for years, ever since SGI started
patching RH for it, and have been very happy with it - fast, and solid as a rock. I'll
have to look into epoll. I've got some time, as this won't happen for a few
months.

What are the current thoughts as to SMP with squid? I could buy more disks or
RAM for the cost of the 2nd CPU. We went from a single CPU NT squid box to
the current dual CPU linux squid box, so I can't really say whether the dual CPU
makes much of a difference. We started out with async-io=24, which proved too
much for the hardware, and have settled at 16 threads, which seems about right
for the old box, and has proven to be very solid.
How about RAM/cache space? Currently we have 768Mb RAM, 27Gb cache.
I would probably go with around 2Gb RAM & 160Gb cache on the new box.

We rely heavily on delay pools to keep bandwidth under control, giving our
students 70kb/s max on their own PCs. Even at that, with the hours they are
allowed to use it, we have some managing over 2Gb/day of downloads. With fast
connectivity on the campus, they can really hammer the proxy during peak
times, as our recent log-filling experience can attest to.

On 29 Mar 2006 at 20:34, Rodrigo A B Freire wrote:

> Shawn,
>
> Undo the RAID5 and leave them as single disks. Format the disks with
> XFS. Use epoll.
>
> Be happy! ;-)
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Shawn Wright" <swright@sls.bc.ca>
> To: <squid-users@squid-cache.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2006 7:29 PM
> Subject: [squid-users] Disk performance basics
>
>
> > Our aging squid proxy is due for replacement, and I am looking to maximize
> > performance and stability on the new box. The current platform is this:
> >
> > Dual P3/733, Mandrake 9.2
> > 768Mb RAM
> > 4x 9Gb 10k rpm scsi drives on adaptec 3940, 1 for O/S, 3 for cache.
> >
> > The above has served well for a few years, handling a consistent load of
> > ~500
> > users, and about 350-450Gb/month of data. (with delay pools on most
> > users).
> > Long-term MRTG graphing of load shows the system is not CPU bound, with a
> > steady avg CPU load of about 20%, avg http & dns times of 75ms, and
> > typical
> > peak requests/sec of ~60 each day.
> >
> > Our standard server is a Dell 2850 with 4 or more 15K drives and RAID5.
> > Obviously RAID5 isn't needed for the cache, so I'm wondering what is the
> > best
> > disk option for cache performance in a machine like this, which offers up
> > to 6
> > drives in a scsi backplane.
> >
> > Any tips appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks.
> > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> > Shawn Wright, I.T. Manager
> > Shawnigan Lake School
> > http://www.sls.bc.ca
> > swright@sls.bc.ca
> >
> >
> >
>

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Shawn Wright, I.T. Manager
Shawnigan Lake School
http://www.sls.bc.ca
swright@sls.bc.ca
Received on Wed Mar 29 2006 - 17:16:25 MST