[squid-users] squid.conf cache_mem

Ok, here is my stupid question :). My production squid server was set up by a contractor and I'm trying to figure out how he's got it set up so if it ever breaks I can fix it or what not. I notice in the squid.conf there is this statement .... something looks a little fishy to me -- is this a normal statement? Thanks!

If it's not normal will this cause problems? Is it something I should change? Should I never call this contractor again ;)?

# TAG: cache_mem (bytes)
# NOTE: THIS PARAMETER DOES NOT SPECIFY THE MAXIMUM PROCESS
# SIZE. IT PLACES A LIMIT ON ONE ASPECT OF SQUID'S MEMORY
# USAGE. SQUID USES MEMORY FOR OTHER THINGS AS WELL.
# YOUR PROCESS WILL PROBABLY BECOME TWICE OR THREE TIMES
# BIGGER THAN THE VALUE YOU PUT HERE
#
# 'cache_mem' specifies the ideal amount of memory to be used
# for:
# * In-Transit objects
# * Hot Objects
# * Negative-Cached objects
#
# Data for these objects are stored in 4 KB blocks. This
# parameter specifies the ideal upper limit on the total size of
# 4 KB blocks allocated. In-Transit objects take the highest
# priority.
#
# In-transit objects have priority over the others. When
# additional space is needed for incoming data, negative-cached
# and hot objects will be released. In other words, the
# negative-cached and hot objects will fill up any unused space
# not needed for in-transit objects.
#
# If circumstances require, this limit will be exceeded.
# Specifically, if your incoming request rate requires more than
# 'cache_mem' of memory to hold in-transit objects, Squid will
# exceed this limit to satisfy the new requests. When the load
# decreases, blocks will be freed until the high-water mark is
# reached. Thereafter, blocks will be used to store hot
# objects.
#
# The default is 8 Megabytes.
#
cache_mem 484848484848484848484848484848484848484848484848484848484848484848484848484848484848484848484848 MB

Matt Anderson
MCSE, CNE, CCNA, Network+
Network Engineer
Maly's Corporate Headquarters
(616) 956-2246
Received on Fri Aug 24 2001 - 07:51:31 MDT