Squid is a robust and high-performance caching and forwarding HTTP web proxy designed to enhance the efficiency of web traffic management. Its primary function is to cache frequently requested web resources, such as web pages, images, and other media files. By storing these resources locally, Squid reduces the need for repeated requests to the original servers, which leads to decreased bandwidth usage and improved response times for users. This caching mechanism not only optimizes network performance but also provides significant cost savings on data transfer.

In addition to its caching capabilities, Squid is versatile in handling various network protocols, including HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP. This makes it suitable for a wide range of applications, from small office setups to large-scale enterprise environments. Squid’s configuration options allow for fine-tuned access control, enabling administrators to set rules and policies that dictate who can access which resources and under what conditions. This feature enhances security by restricting access to sensitive content and managing user permissions effectively.

Moreover, Squid supports advanced features such as traffic management and load balancing. It can distribute incoming requests across multiple servers, improving overall performance and reliability. With its extensive logging and reporting capabilities, Squid provides valuable insights into network usage patterns and helps identify potential issues or areas for optimization.

Overall, Squid is a critical tool for managing and optimizing web traffic. Its caching and proxying capabilities make it an essential component in improving network efficiency, reducing operational costs, and ensuring a better user experience. Whether used in a small-scale network or a large enterprise environment, Squid’s flexible and powerful features make it a valuable asset for network administrators and IT professionals.

To subscribe to this product from Azure Marketplace and initiate an instance using the Azure compute service, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Azure Marketplace and subscribe to the desired product.
2. Search for “virtual machines” and select “Virtual machines” under Services.
3. Click on “Add” in the Virtual machines page, which will lead you to the Create a virtual machine page.
4. In the Basics tab:

• • Ensure the correct subscription is chosen under Project details.
  • Opt for creating a new resource group by selecting “Create new resource group” and name it as “myResourceGroup.”

5. Under Instance details:

• • Enter “myVM” as the Virtual machine name.
  • Choose “East US” as the Region.
  • Select “Ubuntu 18.04 LTS” as the Image.
  • Leave other settings as default.

6. For Administrator account:

• • Pick “SSH public key.”
  • Provide your user name and paste your public key, ensuring no leading or trailing white spaces.

7. Under Inbound port rules > Public inbound ports:

• • Choose “Allow selected ports.”
  • Select “SSH (22)” and “HTTP (80)” from the drop-down.

8. Keep the remaining settings at their defaults and click on “Review + create” at the bottom of the page.
9. The “Create a virtual machine” page will display the details of the VM you’re about to create. Once ready, click on “Create.”
10. The deployment process will take a few minutes. Once it’s finished, proceed to the next section.

To connect to the virtual machine:

1. Access the overview page of your VM and click on “Connect.”
2. On the “Connect to virtual machine” page:

• • Keep the default options for connecting via IP address over port 22.
  • A connection command for logging in will be displayed. Click the button to copy the command. Here’s an example of what the SSH connection command looks like:
    “`
    ssh azureuser@10.111.12.123
    “`

3. Using the same bash shell that you used to generate your SSH key pair, you can either reopen the Cloud Shell by selecting >_ again

or going to https://shell.azure.com/bash.
4. Paste the SSH connection command into the shell to initiate an SSH session.

Usage/Deployment Instructions

Anarion Technologies – Squid

Note: Search product on Azure marketplace and click on “Get it now”

Click on Continue

Click on Create

Creating a virtual machine, enter or select appropriate values for zone, machine type, resource group and so on as per your choice.

After Process of Create Virtual Machine. You have got an Option Go to Resource Group

Click Go to Resource Group

Click on the Network Security Group: squid-nsg

Click on Inbound Security Rule

Click on Add

Add Port

Add Port

Destination Port Ranges Section*  (where default value is 8080)

3128

Select Protocol as TCP

Option Action is to be Allow

Click on Add     

Click on Refresh

Copy the Public IP Address

SSH into Terminal and Run these Commands:

$ sudo su
$ cd ../..
$ apt update

Add Squid User :

$ sudo groupadd squid
$ sudo useradd -g squid -s /bin/false squid

Set the correct ownership for Squid directories:

$ sudo chown -R squid:squid /usr/local/squid/var/

Reload Systemd & Restart Squid

$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload
$ sudo systemctl restart squid

Check status:

$ systemctl status squid

Check if Squid is Listening on Port 3128

$ ss -tulnp | grep squid

Edit Squid Configuration

Open the Squid configuration file:

$ sudo nano /usr/local/squid/etc/squid.conf

Look for the following default rules:

http_access deny all

Change it to:

http_access allow all

Or, if you want to allow only specific IPs (for security reasons), use:

acl allowed_clients src 192.168.1.0/24  # Allow all clients in this subnet

http_access allow allowed_clients

Replace 192.168.1.0/24 with your actual IP range.

Try accessing a website:

$ curl -x http://13.67.192.248:3128 -I http://www.google.com

Thanks!!!