Re: minimum requirements

Matthew,

        IMO, you should be fine testing a Squid-based product with the
hardware you have. My only recommendation would be to switch client
and server hardware _if_ you think that 900MHz celeron is faster than
450MHz K6-2. In other words, put the fastest hardware on the client
side. In a proxied test servers handle misses only, and server-side
code is a little bit less CPU intensive. Your setup should work either
way though.

        Always validate you setup with a [shorter] no-proxy test
first, of course. I would also run a test with 10MB cache specified in
the polymix-4.pg file before venturing into the long fill.

Alex.

-- 
                            | HTTP performance - Web Polygraph benchmark
www.measurement-factory.com | HTTP compliance+ - Co-Advisor test suite
                            | all of the above - PolyBox appliance
On Wed, 28 Aug 2002, Matthew Robinson wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have to run performance tests on a new squid-based caching appliance.
>
> I've done all the initial configuration, but could do with an idea if
> I'm wasting my time or not...
>
> The only machines at my disposal for testing are:
>
> 1 x celeron @ 900MHz / 256MB RAM (srv01)
> 1 x K6-2 @ 450MHz / 256MB RAM (clt01)
> 1 x P2 @ 450MHz / 64MB RAM (monitor & DNS)
> (using an SMC 10/100 switch, none of the machines have fantastic NICs)
>
> that's it... can't borrow any more for testing. Only 1 server & 1 client.
>
> In the netperf tests I got ~50Mb/s in the bidirectional test and ~85Mb/s
> (srv01 end), ~62Mb/s (clt01 end). These results are significantly below
> the "should get" values listed in the docs of 80Mb/s (bi-di), 92-95Mb/s
> (uni).
>
> Our cache appliance has 2GB RAM and 80GB or 160GB of IDE disk. I imagine
> it'll take a ludicrously long time for these machines to fill this
> cache, which is why I seek advice now...
>
> Will I be wasting my time to continue? If so, can anyone suggest a way
> that I can test a cache like this with my limited resources?
>
> Any help will be most gratefully received, i've been reading as much as
> I can but can't find any definitive answers.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Matt
>
> ps. I'm running the polygraph recommended FreeBSD distro on all machines.
>
>