Squid slowness issues - also a bounty post

eri--

Please can you guys provide the output of kldstat command or by any chance those that have issues are using spamd package?

mhab12

From my working (fast) 1.2rc3 box:

Id Refs Address    Size     Name
 1    3 0xc0400000 6df4ac   kernel
 2    1 0xc0ae0000 59e80    acpi.ko

From my working (very slow) 1.2-Release box:

Id Refs Address    Size     Name
 1    4 0xc0400000 7fb834   kernel
 2    1 0xc0bfc000 59e80    acpi.ko
 3    1 0xc6f56000 d000     ipfw.ko

What do these outputs mean?

sullrich

ipfw.ko is ipfw which is enabled for schedules and or captive portal.

rafael.cardoso

Hi I have five computers with pfsense, all with squid and works very well, never get this problem on any machine, don´t use intel or 3com cards, all cards are realtek 8139, ps - only one point I have a link (1 Mb), all others using pppoe connections. ??? ???

paulino

Hi!

Finally today I tested an older version of pfsense to diagnose the problem with squid, namely 1.2-RC2.
I used a machine where 1.2-RELEASE and squid 2.6.18 is slow (tested it).
First with only a 25Mbps connection (in WAN) and LAN connection downloading through squid is blazing fast (the same speed without squid).
Next I downloaded the config.xml from the production machine (1.2-RELEASE), changed the interface IP's (to keep the two machines working at the same time) and uploaded to the 1.2-RC2 version. This includes two-WAN configuration and the three internal networks. The speed stayed fast.
This means the problem is with 1.2-RC4 and later distribution, because now the configuration is the same in both machines: the 1.2-Rc2 is downloading fast and 1.2-RELEASE is downloading slow!

Any suggestions?
Paulino

mhab12

Thanks for the additional testing…it's appreciated.

@ Sullrich

Did the FreeBSD 6.3p?? change from rc3 to rc4 and beyond? I'm not familiar with what theses various releases mean or how much changes from version to version. Have there been any other symptoms that appeared with no changes in the pfsense code from rc3 to rc4? Still just trying to root out the cause of this one. Thanks for your continued input on this and amazing contributions with pfsense.

sullrich

@mhab12:

Thanks for the additional testing…it's appreciated.

@ Sullrich

Did the FreeBSD 6.3p?? change from rc3 to rc4 and beyond? I'm not familiar with what theses various releases mean or how much changes from version to version. Have there been any other symptoms that appeared with no changes in the pfsense code from rc3 to rc4? Still just trying to root out the cause of this one. Thanks for your continued input on this and amazing contributions with pfsense.

Not that I can recall.

mwdiers

I can confirm. Fresh install of 1.2. Nothing but squid running, latest package as of last night.

With transparent enabled, on our dual-bonded T1 here, I get 600-1100Kbit.
Disabled, I get ~ the full 3Mbit.

Architecture is PentiumD with SMP kernel, 1GB RAM, 2GB Swap.

I monitored CPU usage with top. No difference. 99% idle either way.

woodsy

Had the same issue:

Changed the following in /usr/local/pkg/squid.inc and it seems to have increased the speed significantly:

Original line: cache_dir disk_d $cachedir $disk_cache_size $level1 256
New line: cache_dir aufs $cachedir $disk_cache_size $level1 256

basically changing from disk_d to aufs

save the file
restart squid.

sullrich

Good find, package updated!!

Adam2

thanks everyone, am going to change as said and see if there is any improvement.

Cry Havok

One warning, upgrading Squid kills it (or at least it did for me) - you have to blow away the old cache directories (in /usr/local/squid/cache) first.

xdsl

@Cry:

One warning, upgrading Squid kills it (or at least it did for me) - you have to blow away the old cache directories (in /usr/local/squid/cache) first.

Hi, how to blow away the old cache /usr/local/squid/cache ?

I'm sorry i just installed pfsense+squid today. even the aufs changed, i still get same problem.

hoba

SSH in or go to the shell. Option 8 brings you to the command line. Then use the rm command to delete the files in that folder.

xdsl

i have download the latest squid from pakages, its looks like cache_dir aufs $cachedir $disk_cache_size $level1 256 already changed by sullrich.

i have clear cache directories. but it is same like before. download still in a low rate.

i will try 1.2-RC2. thanks.

mhab12

Same here, no improvements. I appreciate the update though as I had been reading that 'aufs' is pretty much the standard now and disk_d is becoming obsolete.

mwdiers

Confirmed again that the aufs change, with squid restart, does nothing. Last check, with squid running, downloads were running about 75% slower than with transparent proxy disabled.

xdsl

I have install another pc with 1.2-RC2. And install squid(stable18) from latest packaged (updated from aufs to disk_d).

it's still not working. speed go down. :(

???

which squid can run on 1.2-RC2?

mhab12

So far the only sure thing is pfsense 1.2rc3, though there have been so many bugfixes since then it hurts to go backwards. If you feel the need to, you can go here…We are still on 1.2rc3 and flying along at full speed.
http://pfsense.loquefaltaba.com/downloads/old/

RavenD

Set up the new version on a 1.2 Release machine that's plugged into two bonded T1s. If downloads are any slower with the transparent proxy on, its a really a marginal difference.