Squid 3.0 Configuration Manual

ADMINISTRATIVE PARAMETERS

The parameters in this section allow the Squid admin to specify, for example, which users and groups have the right to run Squid , what host name should be displayed while displaying errors, which users have the authority to view Cache activity details, etc.

cache_mgr	cache_effective_user	cache_effective_group	visible_hostname	unique_hostname
hostname_aliases

TAG NAME	cache_mgr
Description	This is to specify email address of the administrator of this cache
Build Option	Default
Usage	cache_mgr mail_id
Default	cache_mgr webmaster

Synopsis
This is the address which will be added to any error pages that are displayed to clients. Defaults to either webmaster.

Arguments

mail_id

Mail id to be displayed

Example(s)
cache_mgr [email protected]

TAG NAME	cache_effective_user, cache_effective_group
Description	The user name and group name Squid will operate as
Build Option	Default
Usage	cache_effective_user username cache_effective_group groupname
Default	cache_effective_user nobody cache_effective_group nogroup

Synopsis
Squid is designed to start as root but very soon after drop to the user/group specified here. This allows you to restrict, for security reasons, the permissions that Squid will have when operating. By default, Squid will operate as either nobody user and the nogroup group.

Note: If these tags are not configured properly, then Squid will have problems while starting.

Arguments

username	Username for Squid process
groupname	Group name for Squid process

Example(s)
cache_effective_user Squid
cache_effective_group Squid

TAG NAME	visible_hostname
Description	The host name that Squid will advertise itself on
Build Option	Default
Usage	visible_hostname anyname
Default	none

Synopsis
This effects the host name that Squid uses when serving error messages. This option may need to be configured in cache clusters if you receive IP-Forwarding errors.

Note: If not configured, Squid will not start.

Arguments

anyname

Name of the Squid machine

Example(s)
visible_hostname SYS-CO1

TAG NAME	unique_hostname
Description	Used to set a unique host name for Squid to report in cache clusters in order to allow detection of forwarding loops
Build Option	Default
Usage	unique_hostname hostname
Default	none

Synopsis
If you want to have multiple machines with the same visible_hostname then you must give each machine a different unique_hostname so that forwarding loops can be detected. In brief, Just set visible_hostname to the address the clients connects to, and unique_hostname to the externally visible address of each proxy. (address == registered domain name).

Arguments

hostname

Unique name of the Squid machine

Example(s)
unique_hostname www.kovaiteam.com

TAG NAME	hostname_aliases
Description	Used to list of other DNS names that your cache has
Build Option	Default
Usage	hostname_aliases name
Default	none

Synopsis
There may be situations where you system or cache have more than one DNS names. In such situations you may specify the DNS names in this tag.

Arguments

name

Alias name

Example(s)
hostname_aliases rose