Now squid is up and running on our network, I am thinking ahead. We are about to upgrade the network to 100MBit cabling/switches and Pentium III workstations. By March next year we should also have a broadband 2MB connection to the Internet In these circumstances, is there any benefit in running a web proxy cache? I do not use it to restrict access to certain sites etc..
Lots of benefit. First, a good cache will make your bandwidth go 50% further anyway (and will you actually get 2Mbit?). Second, you get a central log file of all activity. Third, once you have worked out how to combine acls then you can start controlling access - e.g. hotmail only outside lesson time except to staff computers. And you can throttle downloading bandwidth (for all except your own station) to 50% of the total bandwidth. You will suddenly find sites you need to restrict, and you need the tool to do so readily at hand. And you squid machine can do lots of other useful things as well. -- Christopher Dawkins, Felsted School, Dunmow, Essex CM6 3JG 01371-820527 or 07798 636725 cchd@felsted.essex.sch.uk