[squid-users] How many proxies to run?

Hi,
      We are a Public University offering free internet access (both
wired/wireless) to students through three Squid Proxy Servers.The
number of peak time users even reach more than 3000. To my knowledge
these proxies are running without any optimization. Also Proxy users
are always complaining about the slow speed of the net. I inherited
this setup from my predecessor a week ago,though am a linux
administrator am new to the world of Squid Web Proxy. I have the
following questions regarding Squid.

  Is it really necessary to run three proxy servers to support more
than 3500 users?

 Am asking this question because now users have to configure either
one of the three proxy addresses in their browsers(a real hassle) if
they want to browse. I was hoping if it is just a single proxy we can
use the "WPAD" script to auto-detect the proxy address in the browser.

   If a single server can support more than 3500 users then what kind
of specs it should have? (i.e Processor, RAM, HDD Space, RAID level
etc)

 Also I need advice from the Pros who run setups with this much number
of users. Advance thanks for your replies.
Received on Tue Aug 30 2011 - 12:46:55 MDT