Re: [squid-users] cache_mem or let the kernel handle it?

Anton Melser wrote:
> Hi,
> When going through mod_cache before finally coming back to squid, they
> talk about the fact that it can actually be better to use a disk cache
> than a mem cache. The reason being that the kernel caches files, and
> does so very well... I have pumped up the cache_mem to 1GB and the
> cache disk usage to 5GB, as I'm using a machine that is doing only
> this (+ mod_jk), and has plenty of resources... I have to admit it
> seems quite a bit faster than mod_cache was, though that is probably
> just because I have the possibility to cache more (by being able to
> use regexs for things I don't want cached very precisely...), but are
> there any thoughts on this?
>

There have been no tests posted to the list detailing the advantages of
either method. At least not in the last few years.

Currently Squid only puts objects fetched from the network in the memory
cache. Objects on disk can be put in memory by the OS. For that reason
alone, I would personally keep a small cache_mem, and give most of the
memory over to the OS.

> Cheers
> Anton
>

Chris
Received on Tue Jun 10 2008 - 21:06:21 MDT