[ale] Linux proxy server

[Andrew Newton]

Ed,

You can accomplish a caching web proxy using Apache under Linux.
Apache comes with RedHat, but the last version of it I installed
(4.0) did not have the necessary Apache modules (you should be
using atleast Apache 1.2).  If your version does not have the
latest Apache code or the necessary Apache proxy module, then
you can get it from www.apache.org (or a mirror site).  Compiling
it is fairly straight forward.  All directions on setting up
Apache are at www.apache.org as well.

Your hardware list seems fine to me with the exception of the
Intel EtherExpress cards.  I've found from personal experience
they don't handle heavy loads well under Linux.  This may have
changed.  Check the Linux Hardware HOWTO (available from the
Linux Documentation Project at www.cc.gatech.edu/Linux/LDP/).

And getting Linux to act as a firewall is not very hard.  Just
use two ethernet cards and don't route traffic between them.
After that, you have a myriad of choices when it comes to the
different firewall implementations available.  I would assume
that you would want your firewall to pass more than web traffic.
You can find more information on this from the Linux Firewall
HOWTO.

Once you have Apache up and running as your web caching proxy,
you could also chunk IIS as Apache is a web server.  Just
a hint.

Take it easy and have fun with Linux.

-Andy

> 
> Dear ALE:
> 	My name is Ed Paynter and I am the network administrator for
> Greensboro Day School, a K-12 school located in Greensboro, NC.  Our
> school has recently (last December) installed a campus Ethernet network
> to connect our classrooms to file services and the Internet via a 256K
> fractional T-1 line.  We have about 120 Macs (from LC-550s to PowerPC
> 5400s) and 25 PCs (486 and Pentiums). We use Windows NT 3.51 and
> Microsoft IIS as our Internet server.
> 	I would like to use Linux as a caching proxy server to speed up access
> since quite frequently 10-20 of our machines access the same sites in
> classroom situations, often for a couple of days at a time.  I have
> been told that this is possible but can find little information or
> support from local sources as Linux is not a commercially profitable
> item for consultants (they suggest Microsoft Proxy Server, etc.), but I
> currently do not have funds for setting up such a system.
> 	What I do have is several extra 486 DX-100 machines with up to 32 meg
> of RAM, a couple of 1 gig hard drives, several Intel EtherExpress
> Pro-10 NICs, a new copy of RedHat Linux that was given to me and the
> desire to make it work.  
> 	My first question is:  Will it work?  With the hardware I have, can I
> build an adequate Linux-based proxy server that will help our Internet
> access speed.
> 	My second question is: Assuming the answer to the first question is
> yes, will I need additional software (proxy-services,etc.) in order to
> setup the proxy or are they a part of Linux.
> 	And my last question:  Assuming that both 1 & 2 are answered yes,
> could I use this same machine as a firewall for our network.  It seems
> logical to assume that a proxy server could also act as a firewall. 
> Currently, we have little protection from the Internet (our main
> protection is that we are probably a very boring site and thus of
> little interest to hackers) and the fact that our fileserver uses only
> IPX and AppleTalk with no drive mapping to our Internet server.   We do
> nightly backups just in case.
> 	I hope you may be able to advise me on this.  I am a newcomer to Linux
> but it seems to be a very stable operating system and I intend to learn
> as much as possible about it.  We have several teachers who may be
> interested in making it part of their Introduction to Operating Systems
> curriculum and I would be expected to support them.  Thank you for your
> time and consideration.
> 
> Ed Paynter
> 
> -- 
> Edward Paynter
> Manager of Information Systems
> Greensboro Day School
> Greensboro, North Carolina
> 


-- 
Andrew Newton
lfs at eskimo.com
http://www.eskimo.com/~lfs