PFSense Squid Cache help

[dark_xzyph3r]

Hey guys, I have recently setup PF Sense on an old box I had (P4 with 1 GB ram and 2 Gbit Nics) and I setup Squid for a Proxy and for Caching, I can cache my Steam Game downloads but not regular downloads from the browser.. IE: I downloaded a 1.5 GB file through Chrome on my laptop then I had to download the exact same file from the exact same site and had to re download at my ISP speeds but steam will re download at around 12 MBytes/s (I am only running at 100Mbit right now) Hopefully you guys can help with my setup.. Heres pictures of the webpage.. 

[brwainer]

"steam will re download at around 12 MBytes/s" - you know 12Mbps is 96Mbps right? So in other words, steam is downloading at your ISP speeds, since you said you are on a 100Mbps line. Unless I've misunderstood you? Regardless, my point is that I don't think your steam example is actually using the cache.

I have no experience with PFSense and Squid, but just double checking - you have your browser set to use the Squid as a proxy right? Or are you trying to set up passive proxying via HTTP redirects in the PFSense firewall?

EDIT: your second screenshot appears to show a maximum file size to cache of 300MB - you said you were doing a 1.5GB test, right? If so, that wouldn't be cached. But again, I have no experience with this.

[billytechtips]

i been really curious on this my self i been using ipcop latley made an pfsense box but was having trouble with the port forwarding and setting up GUI interface outside the wan side

[leadeater]

I normally configure Squid using the config file, can do a lot more. It's been a while since I've done it though, like since 2009/2010 so this is testing me a bit

 

Turn off cache validation "Enable offline mode"

Increase the disk cache size to something more usable, say 30GB

Increase the maximum cache object size to 10GB

Set cache object expiry to like a day

Also look up custom refresh patterns, really do need to use them to get squid caching properly

 

Those settings are not necessarily the best to run with long term but will allow you to test if caching is working and then optimize properly from there. Tons of guides online that give example configs and explain things really well, much better than I can.

[leadeater]

"steam will re download at around 12 MBytes/s" - you know 12Mbps is 96Mbps right? So in other words, steam is downloading at your ISP speeds, since you said you are on a 100Mbps line. Unless I've misunderstood you? Regardless, my point is that I don't think your steam example is actually using the cache.

I have no experience with PFSense and Squid, but just double checking - you have your browser set to use the Squid as a proxy right? Or are you trying to set up passive proxying via HTTP redirects in the PFSense firewall?

EDIT: your second screenshot appears to show a maximum file size to cache of 300MB - you said you were doing a 1.5GB test, right? If so, that wouldn't be cached. But again, I have no experience with this.

 

Yep have to agree, doesn't look like it's caching but just using a nice consistent steam content server. Assuming you are connected to the PFSense box at 1Gbps you should be getting 120MB/s not 12MB/s.

[dark_xzyph3r]

Yep have to agree, doesn't look like it's caching but just using a nice consistent steam content server. Assuming you are connected to the PFSense box at 1Gbps you should be getting 120MB/s not 12MB/s.

 

"steam will re download at around 12 MBytes/s" - you know 12Mbps is 96Mbps right? So in other words, steam is downloading at your ISP speeds, since you said you are on a 100Mbps line. Unless I've misunderstood you? Regardless, my point is that I don't think your steam example is actually using the cache.

I have no experience with PFSense and Squid, but just double checking - you have your browser set to use the Squid as a proxy right? Or are you trying to set up passive proxying via HTTP redirects in the PFSense firewall?

EDIT: your second screenshot appears to show a maximum file size to cache of 300MB - you said you were doing a 1.5GB test, right? If so, that wouldn't be cached. But again, I have no experience with this.

 

Sorry for the late replies, Christmas stuff The line to the box is 100Mbps but my ISP line is 6mbps down (upgrading soon)

[leadeater]

Sorry for the late replies, Christmas stuff The line to the box is 100Mbps but my ISP line is 6mbps down (upgrading soon)

 

Cool, thanks for the extra info. Have a look at the config changes I suggested when you can, should at least get you started.

[LAwLz]

I don't have any experience with Squid, but the first thing that comes to my mind is that you might have downloaded that 1.5GB file in Chrome over HTTPS. You won't be able to cache that since HTTPS encrypts things end-to-end.

Then there is also the stuff other people in this thread said, like increasing the maximum allowed object size.

[dark_xzyph3r]

I don't have any experience with Squid, but the first thing that comes to my mind is that you might have downloaded that 1.5GB file in Chrome over HTTPS. You won't be able to cache that since HTTPS encrypts things end-to-end.

Then there is also the stuff other people in this thread said, like increasing the maximum allowed object size.

 

I don't have any experience with Squid, but the first thing that comes to my mind is that you might have downloaded that 1.5GB file in Chrome over HTTPS. You won't be able to cache that since HTTPS encrypts things end-to-end.

Then there is also the stuff other people in this thread said, like increasing the maximum allowed object size.

 

Will do