Re: Squid is OK, but which UNIX for high loads?

Brian Rankin wrote:
>
> I'm also running LInux (2.0.30) and am having similiar performance
> problems. I'd consider switching to freeBSD (I have the latest CDROM);
> what are the caveots?

> > >I'm using Squid 1.1.10 on a PPro 200MHZ + 256MB RAM, Linux 2.0.29.
> > >Squid was running OK for month (started with 1.1.0), until recently, =
> > >problems started as the load increased (~70,000 connections/hour). =
> > >Symptoms:
> > >1. Squid's response time increased dramatically. Telnetting to port 8082 =
> > >(the cache port) takes 3-4 seconds on the command line for the =
> > >"Connected.." string to appear.=20
> > >2. Even when connected, Squid takes 3-4 seconds to retrieve even cached =
> > >objects!

> > >It was suggested that this may be a problem with Squid, so we upgraded =
> > >to 1.1.10 (we were running 1.1.8). It was also suggested that this may =
> > >be a Linux problem, so we upgraded to 2.0.30 (which has the ISS). =
> > >Performance improved, but the delays were still unacceptable. Note that =
> > >memory is abundant (I always have 70-80 Megs free physical RAM) and CPU =
> > >load rarely goes beyond 1.
> >
> > >I want to keep my existing hardware, which leaves me with 2 choices: NT =
> > >and Solaris x86 (Don't want FreeBSD). NT is a no-no, but=20

Before changing OS, if you can then look into why the problem is there
then
mention it to the Linux kernel developers and if there is a problem or
somewhere where performence could be improved then they'll probobly be
a patch for it!

There some a few patches official and un-official that improve things
like INN no end that I am sure would go a long way to improve Squid.

Out of interest, what happens if you reboot the box?

Also look at other kernel parameters like the number of file descriptors
you can have open at the same time, etc.

Linux is a very fine O/S and from my experiance of running it as a news
server
(a BUSY news server at that!) it has performed better than FreeBSD or
BSD4.1
has so far (Though I have not got much experiance of BSD's so I may not
have
tuned it up right).

All in all, it's all a lot better then I got with Netscape's server on
NT :)

Regards,
Leigh Porter
Network Operations Engineer
Wisper Bandwidth Plc.
Received on Fri May 23 1997 - 01:42:58 MDT