IPKungfu, Squid Screwed on Edgy... Nah!

Whew! I almost thought that I could no longer use my trusted combination of IpKungfu and Squid for a transparent proxy setup on our local intranet here at the Community eCenter of Gerona.

Yesterday, I upgraded our router/squid/samba/printer server from Ubuntu Dapper to Ubuntu Edgy Eft via a fresh install.

To my horror, as I tried to run ipkungfu from the terminal... it won't run leaving several lines of error warnings! I did some research with Mr. Google in which I find out that I only have to open /usr/sbin/ipkungfu...

sudo gedit /usr/sbin/ipkungfu

and change the first line to...

#!/bin/bash

and then my IpKungfu started to work flawlessly.

Then next is Squid. When I tried the same configurations I used on this blogpost, Squid won't start with matching errors (again!).

After a few seconds Googling the net, I found out that I no longer have to setup the lines below on Squid version 2.6 (Dapper uses the older version)...

httpd_accel_host virtual
httpd_accel_port 80
httpd_accel_with_proxy on
httpd_accel_uses_host_header on

Instead, all I have to do is to change the http_port tag at the squid configuration file from "http_port 3128" to "http_port 3128 transparent" and that's it!

Now Ipkungfu and Squid works well hand in hand (and a bit zippier!) on my Ubuntu Edgy Eft box as if it was configured by a pro. :)

Online Resources: Transparent Caching on Squid 2.6 and Ipkungfu on Edgy Eft.

My basic Squid Proxy configuration

A certain Albuemil asked thru a comment on this blog on how I configured my Squid proxy. So here I am sharing what I learned via PLUG mailing list (special mention to AC Perdon for his excellent instructions) on how to configure Squid proxy. Warning: I am no computer expert and so I welcome additional information to enrich my Linux experience.

First install squid via apt-get or synaptic:

sudo apt-get install squid

After installation, edit Squid's configuration file:

sudo gedit /etc/squid/squid.conf

In the /etc/squid/squid.conf file, search and edit the following options/tags:

#TAG:http_port
http_port 3128

#OPTION WHICH AFFECT THE CACHE SIZE
cache_mem (1/4 of the your RAM) MB

(e.g. assuming your RAM is 1Gb then its "cache_mem 250 MB")

#LOGFILE PATHNAMES AND CACHE DIRECTORIES
#cache_dir ufs /var/spool/squid 100 16 256
cache_dir diskd /cache (capacity of your /cache in MB) 16 256

(make sure /cache already exists)

#RECOMENDED MINIMUM CONFIGURATION
acl netxxx src xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

(specify your network and netmask e.g. "acl mynet src 192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0)

# AND FINALLY DENY ALL OTHER ACCESS TO THE PROXY
http_access allow netxxx

(e.g. "http_access allow mynet")

#TAG:Visible_hostname
visible_hostname (yourserver name)

#Then i just add these lines after the last lines of the configuration file

ie_refresh on
httpd_accel_host virtual
httpd_accel_port 80
httpd_accel_with_proxy on
httpd_accel_uses_host_header on

Save the file and then close.

At the terminal, change the ownership of /cache

sudo chown proxy:proxy /cache

Then create swap directories at /cache:

sudo squid -z

Then fireaway squid!

sudo /etc/init.d/squid start

You may now follow the instructions on this blogpost for a transparent proxy using Ipkungfu.

To check if its working, open a web browser on a PC in your LAN and then do the following at the terminal :

sudo tail -f /var/log/squid/access.log

Enjoy Squid!

P.S.: I am using Ubuntu LTS on a Pentium IV 1.7 Ghz 1Gb RAM 120 Gb HB PC.