[plug] Squid Stability Issues

[Peter T Spicer-Wensley]

Peace Pluggers!

I am the network manager/ tech support/ LT coordinator at Swan View SHS.

I have a query about the performance of Squid 2 on my Centos 4.2 server (P4 3.6 2GB RAM). 

I have been running Squid as a proxy server on redHat Linux (5.2) for about 10 years and it has been very stable but I have just moved from an aging CLI (headless) config to a new server with GUI but the performance of the Squid service is good but not great.

I need advice on where to go to get advice on tweaking Squid performance. 
My main issue is stability at present. The Squid service keeps being brought down by errant clients.

I am happy to point any interested pluggers to my old and new squid.conf files should they wish to offer any ideas.

I have about 400 Windows XP SP2 clients (not bad for a state school of 800 kids) which are often infested with malware, some of which are causing the Squid service to choke.

The CPU load on the server will go from 1 or 2% load to 100% load for a number of seconds as the server is bombarded with requests (from dataminers I think.) If this happens long enough it breaks the Squid service. Can I get Squid to protect itself?

 I am using Ethereal to see where the worst offenders are however the problem is tracking down offending clients. Since they aren't always in use or even on this is tricky.

I have tweaked some things but need a bit of advice to counter these dratted infested XP clients. 

Is there a way to tell Squid to ignore repeated requests above a certain level?

I AM cleaning up Clients using AdAware and this is helping but things are still occasionally falling in a hole...

The Windows Firewall is better than nothing but do others have a better solution on the client level? 
(Unfortunately installing client Linux isn't an option - though it should be.)

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Peter Spicer-Wensley
System Administrator
Swan View Senior High School

There are two ways to live your life: one is as though nothing is a miracle; the other is as though everything is a miracle.
 - Albert Einstein

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