Re: [squid-users] Compression

I'm looking into this myself. I don't want to use mod_gzip
as I want to keep the load off the backend apache server,
which is already maxxed out.

Ideally I'd also like it in the squid proxy, but I was
seeing if there was another way before I start hacking squid.
The idea was to use a compression proxy as another proxy
layer in the content path [Robert Collins sent out some
good info on this a few weeks ago - see the archive]

As far as I can tell apache mod_gzip won't compress content
when apache is run as a proxy [I've tried apache 1.3.20,
mod_gzip isn't yet ready for the 2.X beta apaches yet as
far as I can tell]. Anyway, I doubt Apache in proxy mode
could perform, even if it did do the content compression
(which I can't get it to do). I posted something to
comp.infosystems.www.servers.unix about this, but nobody
has answered as yet.

So the alternatives:

1) squid : can be patched [some (very)beta patches for Content/Transfer
   encoding are available]. This is definitely the best solution.
2) Commercial solutions:
   www.vigos.com (I haven't looked at this)
   www.ehyperspace.com [software sold to them by
   remotecommunications inc who wrote mod_gzip]
   I've received a trial version of their software which I'm
   trying out this week. A bit of reverse engineering on the
   binary shows it's nothing more than a simple gzip compression
   proxy compiled with gcc - though you'd think it was something
   a lot more special if you look at their website ;-)
3) Rustle up my own gzip proxy. I've already done this, but
   don't have the time to 'harden' it for production as
   much as I would like [actually, it's just painfully
   tedious writing accurate/compliant parsing code for http].
   It's pretty simple - just using zlib and some basic proxy
   select/pthread code to make it shift.

I suspect to get this working I'll either have to invest some
serious hacking time in either my compression proxy or coming
up with a hardened squid patch (unless Robert/anyone else has
progressed any since the earlier thread). It does make a lot
more sense to hack it into squid.
   
It's not my primary project at the moment. But if you've got
more time than I have, It'd be good to hear what you come up with.

cheers,
Mike

>
> Hi there...
>
> With Apache web server, you can add the gzip module which compresses
> data on the fly to the visitor cutting down dramatically on bandwidth
> consumed. All current browsers support "on the fly" Gzip compression
> and it works extremely well.
>
> Is there a way that content served via the cache could be gzipped on the
> fly? Perhaps it's already possible and I am not aware of it? My
> opinion would be that this is a win/win scenario with the cache speeding
> up delivery of content to the browser, saving bandwidth on the backbone
> connections, and also delivering the content even faster to the browser
> (especially a dial-up user).
>
> Thanks,
>
> Paul Stewart

-- 
Michael Kiernan
Onet.pl S.A.
Krakow, Poland
http://www.onet.pl/