[squid-users] Initial squid impressions (and questions)

Hi squid people,

[I subscribed 43 seconds ago ;), please CC me just in case
subscription went wrong]

Just installed squid (squid-2.5.STABLE1-20021119).
I'd like to configure it to be aggressively caching,
so I'm suspicious to any events when it goes to the Net
seemingly without need.

Here: my browser has http://www.xfree86.org/isc.gif
in it's cache, so it asks Squid:
"If-Modified-Since: Tue, 08 Oct 2002 19:50:42 GMT; length=3768" ?
Squid does not have it in the cache (I just recreated empty cache
directories), so it goes to the www.xfree86.org, asks the same,
receives "HTTP/1.1 304 Not Modified", reports that to the browser.

The problem is, it will go to www.xfree86.org again and again
whenever I visit the site as long as browser has that .gif internally
cached. This looks suboptimal for me. "Clear all caches of all
browsers on each and every client machine whenever you recreate
your squid cache" type recipe is wrong: I have far too many of them.

Okay, now I'll purge browser cache. Go for the .gif again.
First time, it gets cached (TCP_MISS in access.log).
Next time? TCP_REFRESH_HIT! From the FAQ: "TCP_REFRESH_HIT:
The requested object was cached but STALE. The IMS query for
the object resulted in '304 not modified'".

I had similar problems when squid's box had wildly wrong
system date (~1992 ;), but now date is correct.

What's even more puzzling, http://www.xfree86.org/xfree86.logo.gif
does NOT exhibit this. I get TCP_IMS_HIT on second and subsequent
accesses, which is normal. Why?! Anyone with cluebat?

I'm interested in any comments. Full access.log and squid.conf
are attached if you want to know the details (tar.gz).

Abridged access.log:
====================
TCP_MISS/304 192 GET http://www.xfree86.org/isc.gif - DIRECT/204.152.184
TCP_MISS/304 192 GET http://www.xfree86.org/isc.gif - DIRECT/204.152.184
TCP_MISS/304 192 GET http://www.xfree86.org/isc.gif - DIRECT/204.152.184
TCP_MISS/200 4065 GET http://www.xfree86.org/isc.gif - DIRECT/204.152.18
TCP_REFRESH_HIT/304 191 GET http://www.xfree86.org/isc.gif - DIRECT/204.
TCP_REFRESH_HIT/304 191 GET http://www.xfree86.org/isc.gif - DIRECT/204.
TCP_REFRESH_HIT/304 191 GET http://www.xfree86.org/isc.gif - DIRECT/204.
TCP_MISS/200 27349 GET http://www.xfree86.org/xfree86.logo.gif - DIRECT/
TCP_IMS_HIT/304 214 GET http://www.xfree86.org/xfree86.logo.gif - NONE/-
TCP_IMS_HIT/304 214 GET http://www.xfree86.org/xfree86.logo.gif - NONE/-
TCP_IMS_HIT/304 214 GET http://www.xfree86.org/xfree86.logo.gif - NONE/-

Startup squid messages:
=======================
2002/01/02 13:59:56| Starting Squid Cache version 2.5.STABLE1-20021119 for i386-pc-linux-gnu...
2002/01/02 13:59:56| Process ID 9179
2002/01/02 13:59:56| With 1024 file descriptors available
2002/01/02 13:59:56| Performing DNS Tests...
2002/01/02 13:59:56| Successful DNS name lookup tests...
2002/01/02 13:59:56| DNS Socket created at 172.16.42.127, port 1027, FD 7
2002/01/02 13:59:56| Adding nameserver 172.16.42.127 from /etc/resolv.conf
2002/01/02 13:59:56| Unlinkd pipe opened on FD 12
2002/01/02 13:59:56| Swap maxSize 102400 KB, estimated 7876 objects
2002/01/02 13:59:56| Target number of buckets: 393
2002/01/02 13:59:56| Using 8192 Store buckets
2002/01/02 13:59:56| Max Mem size: 8192 KB
2002/01/02 13:59:56| Max Swap size: 102400 KB
2002/01/02 13:59:56| Rebuilding storage in /var/app/squid-2.5.STABLE1-20021119/cache (CLEAN)
2002/01/02 13:59:56| Using Least Load store dir selection
2002/01/02 13:59:56| Set Current Directory to /var/app/squid-2.5.STABLE1-20021119/cache
2002/01/02 13:59:56| Loaded Icons.
2002/01/02 13:59:56| Accepting HTTP connections at 172.16.42.127, port 3128, FD 13.
2002/01/02 13:59:56| WCCP Disabled.
2002/01/02 13:59:56| Ready to serve requests.
2002/01/02 13:59:59| Done scanning /var/app/squid-2.5.STABLE1-20021119/cache swaplog (0 entries)
2002/01/02 13:59:59| Finished rebuilding storage from disk.
2002/01/02 13:59:59| 0 Entries scanned
2002/01/02 13:59:59| 0 Invalid entries.
2002/01/02 13:59:59| 0 With invalid flags.
2002/01/02 13:59:59| 0 Objects loaded.
2002/01/02 13:59:59| 0 Objects expired.
2002/01/02 13:59:59| 0 Objects cancelled.
2002/01/02 13:59:59| 0 Duplicate URLs purged.
2002/01/02 13:59:59| 0 Swapfile clashes avoided.
2002/01/02 13:59:59| Took 3.1 seconds ( 0.0 objects/sec).
2002/01/02 13:59:59| Beginning Validation Procedure
2002/01/02 13:59:59| Completed Validation Procedure
2002/01/02 13:59:59| Validated 0 Entries
2002/01/02 13:59:59| store_swap_size = 0k
2002/01/02 14:00:00| storeLateRelease: released 0 objects

--
vda