[squid-users] using squid to decrease database hits

Please pardon this simple question regarding the use of Squid and
databases; I did dutifully check the FAQ and mail archives before posting
this, but did not find a simple answer to my question (though it's
probably buried in the archives somewhere).

Basically my question is: can Squid be used to to specifically decrease
database hits for an online database connected to a website?

I'm involved with a group that is redesigning their website. Previously,
the website retrieved database items for its web pages by doing a rebuild
of the website every night. This made fast website pages, since they were
static; but users had to wait overnight for new content that came in
during the day. This overnight wait is rather undesirable.

The redesign project is concerned if the previously static pages are made
dynamic that this will result in a highly increased load on the database,
and the webserver, probably degrading performance; but by how much, no one
knows.

My question is: is Squid appropriate for reducing this risk? My suspicion
is that it is. If we set up a squid cache between the users and the
webserver, users requesting the same dynamic page could be served from the
squid cache, decreasing the backend database server load.

My other question is: have people used Squid for just this purpose, and if
so, may we contact you? I would like to pursuade my project participants
to use Squid if the benefits are clear from someone's similar
implementation.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Best regards,
Rick Casey

----------------------------------------
Rick Casey
mobile 303.345.8893 www.rickcasey.net
home 303.499.9498 rick@rickcasey.net
Received on Thu Mar 24 2005 - 10:07:07 MST