Desktop caching, continued

So two days ago I started fiddeling with Squid and pdnsd. I only just got it all working correctly and I must say, I’m not disappointed. The only gripe I have is mostly my own fault: I cannot grasp the correct usage of Mac OS X’s “locations” with regard to networking. I cannot imagine that the idea behind that is that you need to change the location every time in the system preferences. However, that seems to be the only way I can get it to work correctly. What am I missing?

Anyway, after I installed both Squid and pdnsd from Macports, I set up Squid to use the pdnsd service that I have running on 127.0.0.1. I uncommented the OpenDNS lines and the root dns server lines (sorry, but I can’t seem to find another solution for that one). After that I changed the proxy settings in Mac OS X and only added the http and https proxy. Pointed them towards 127.0.0.1:3128 and… well, that’s it, basically. Everything works and my internet is more or less usable at this time. It’s still not faster of course, but I can easily switch form site to site. I came to the realization that I mostly visit only a few sites, so those are speeded up quite okay.

So, if you’re surfing through GPRS like I am now and you want to speed things up a little, make sure you check out Squid and pdnsd.

Tags: caching, dns, gprs, internet, macosx, pdnsd, proxy, squid, train

Looking for a desktop caching tool

So I’m in the train again and the internet connection over GPRS is horrific. Well, what can you expect, really. But still, I wish it was a bit better so I wouldn’t have to press reload so often when the connection to a server has been terminated because the signal hiccuped.

If the MacOSX desktop would do a better job at caching, all would be well. But it doesn’t. It doesn’t have a caching dns service, nor does it aggressively cache any content. Which is great in a normal, desktop-y setup, but not very good for the way I’m using the internet right now.

Maybe I should see if I’d get a better response from the whole web if I install something like Squid. It’s part of Macports, so shouldn’t be that difficult. Disk space isn’t a problem either, my Macbook has way more disk space than I ever expect to use.

That’s great for the content, but what about a caching dns server? Bind seems the logical option, but I’m not a big fan of that one. Macports has a package called pdnsd. No idea what that one is. Worth a shot, I guess. But I hope it has some sort of script to make sure it’s added to resolv.conf or something.

Something to work out once I’m home.

Tags: caching, commuter, dns, gprs, internet, macosx, macports, proxy, train