[squid-users] Misc questions about squid configuration

        Hello. I have several miscellaneous questions regarding squid
cache configuration:

        (1) Does squid checks no_cache and always_direct directives
*after* checking whether an object is in cache? I have a no_cache and
an always_direct directives for a domain, but squids keeps on telling
it is an HIT and fetching it from the cache. Does it make sense? (BTW,
the page that is cached is in an old CERN web server.)

In this case, always_direct should prevent squid from storing objects
on cache, so that no_cache would be redundant, since squid would never
retrieve them from the cache at the first place, right?

        (2) I want to do some kind of layer-4 fail-safe routing with
squid, in other words, this is the situation: Say I'm managing a squid
server A which default route is a very slow link. However, there is a
squid server B, which I help managing, that has a very fast link to
the internet. My idea is to make squid go always fetch pages (misses)
through the server B, in order to use its fast link. I did it using
the never_direct directive. However, my (fast) link from A to B fails
often. When it fails, the squid at A gives an error for every request,
since it is not allowed to go direct. On the other hand, if I don't
use teh never_direct directive, the server A uses direct connection
too often, not taking advantage of B's fast link. How can I make squid
at server A use server B as parent *always*, except whenever B is
dead?

        (3) I configured a firewall to use transparent proxying
(redirect port 80), but I read somewhere that it was against some
RFC. What is the common practice in well admin sites? Is transparent
proxying OK?

        Thank you,

        Cheers,

-- 
*** Rodrigo Martins de Matos Ventura <yoda@isr.ist.utl.pt>
***  Web page: http://www.isr.ist.utl.pt/~yoda
***   Teaching Assistant and PhD Student at ISR:
***    Instituto de Sistemas e Robotica, Polo de Lisboa
***     Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisboa, PORTUGAL
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