Best open source proxy server?

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

Er, I just wonder. It seems there are quite many open source proxies out there. I just wonder; which one do you think is the best overall? Which one is the fastest? Which one is the least buggy? Which one has the best reporting feature (bandwidth usage per users per month, etc)? Which one would you suggest?

Thanks,

[notfred]

That was just a list of the Java ones. I think the industry standard is pretty much Squid http://www.squid-cache.org/ although I don't actually use any proxy servers.

[king_kilr]

I've heard good things about using Apache as a proxy server and I've heard great thigns about Perlbal.

[bitvector]

Yeah, like notfred says, Squid is the flagship open source proxy.

[king_kilr]

I could have sworn squid was an upstream cache :/ . Here is the link to perlbal: <a href="http://www.danga.com/perlbal/">linkydoodle</a> I've heard lots of good things about it.

[bitvector]

I could have sworn squid was an upstream cache :/ .

It can do that along with a lot of other things. You can use it is a standard caching proxy on the local network, or it can also be used as a "reverse proxy" to sit in front of a specific set of web servers and load balance or cache, etc. It also supports linking multiple caches into a hierarchical cooperative cache (using ICP).

[Aphasia]

From what I've heard of the 'nix guys at work. Squid is the way to go. We run a few of those for customers and they are pretty darn good.

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

I never tried Squid before In fact, this will be my very first experience with proxy. Does squid have "reporting feature" of some sort to display internet usage on user basis?

[axeman]

Personally, I would go the IPCop route, as it is a cinch to setup squid on it, and I'm sure you can find an add-in to do what you want from a logging standpoint; I know with the "Advanced Proxy" addin from http://firewalladdons.sourceforge.net/ you can authenticate users as well. In any sort of LAN setting, you really should have some sort of caching server, if only for the vastly increased performance, not only for the logging capabilities.

I'm not sure how much work logging by user would be, but the squid logs definately track by IP no problem, so when I've used it, tracking the user was easy enough once I had the IP, I just started auditing logon and logoff events, to determine what user was using a particular PC at what time, which is maybe a good practice anyhow.