Proxy server: Squid + dansguardian

[Stainforth, Matthew (SD/DS)]

> >> I need setup a proxy server with RHEL5.6_x86-64 + squid +
> dansguardian with NTLM auth support.
> >>
> >> This server will be used by about 200 users, but this value can be
> increased in near future until about 500 users.
> >>
> >> Somebody know which HW requeriments should I consider?
> > Hi,
> >
> > What's about build this system virtual.
> > In this case you can change the resources later if you need more.
> 
> 
> Squid is quite HDD intensive so I wouldn't virtualize it. It also
> benefits from all the memory you can give it.
> 
> If you're going to have a lot of rules then CPU should also be taken
> into account: high frequency and high QPI.
> 
> For starters: get very fast drives (SAS with high RPM) and all the RAM
> you can (1333 MHz).

For about 1900 users we have a virtualized squid proxy with NTLM auth running on 2GB of memory and one vCPU.  Memory seems to be about right for our environment but we may look at adding a CPU soon. 

A quick glance shows it's writing at about 350 KBps.  I'm not sure there's a sound argument against virtualizing based on disk throughput anyway, at least in our experience, as the fiber channel storage that serves the virtual clusters performs much better than the direct attached storage the previously non-virtual servers had.