How to Set Up Squid Proxy for Private Connections on Rocky/RedHat/CentOS Linux .
Squid is a proxy caching server which provides proxy and cache services for Hyper Text Transport Protocol (HTTP), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), and other popular network protocols
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The diagram below will help you comprehend the Squid Proxy architecture.
Step 1: Update Your System
Before installing any packages
# sudo dnf update -y
Step 2: Enable EPEL Repository on Rocky System
To enable the Epel repo on Rocky system, execute the command:
# sudo dnf install vim epel-release -y
Confirm EPEL has been added to the system:
# sudo dnf repolist
Step 3: Install Squid Server on Rocky System
Next install the Squid Proxy Server by using the below command:
# sudo dnf install squid*
Step 4: Verify Installation Squid proxy
Check the version of Squid proxy
# sudo squid --version
Step 5: Start, enable and restart squid service
Start the Squid service by running the below command.
# sudo systemctl start squid
# sudo systemctl enable squid
# sudo systemctl restart squid
# sudo systemctl status squid
Step 6: Configure Squid proxy server
- Backup the default configuration: the below command.
# cp -rf /etc/squid/squid.conf /etc/squid/squid.conf.back
- Edit the configuration file: Open the Squid configuration file using a text editor vim and nano, the below command
# vim /etc/squid/squid.conf
The Access Control List(ACL) defines who is allowed to use Squid as the proxy on your local network.
#ACL Rule
acl allow_network src "/etc/squid/allow_network"
acl blocksites dstdomain "/etc/squid/blocksites"
To allow access to this ACL, add the following line below the line http_access deny blocksites
# http_access allow localhost
http_acess deny blocksites
http_access allow allow_network
Change the default port (if needed): squid proxy
# squid normally listens to port 3128
http_port 3128
# Leave coredumps in the first cache dir
coredump_dir /var/spool/squid
coredump_dir ufs /home/squid_cache 40960 16 256
Step 7: Website blocking
- Create a file to store the domains to be blocked. the below command.
# sudo vim /etc/squid/blocksites
Add the websites to be blocked. For example,
.facebook.com
.twitter.com
.example.net
.abc.org
Save the file by pressing :wq and Entering press
- Create a file regex_block to store the domains to be blocked. the below command.
# sudo vim /etc/squid/regex_block
Add the website to be blocked.
Save the file by pressing :wq and Entering press
- Create a file allow_network to be blocked for you local network. below command
# sudo vim /etc/squid/allow_network
Add the you IP-address of your server system.
192.168.1.8
Save the file by pressing :wq and Entering press
- Create a directory squid_cache . below the command
# mkdir /home/cache
- Change the Owner directorie
To apply ownership changes to a directorie below the command# chown -R squid:squid /home/squid_cache
Step 8: reload and restart squid service
Restart the Squid service by running the below command.
# sudo systemctl reload squid.service
# sudo systemctl restart squid.service
Step 9: Configure Firewall
If your system has a firewall enabled, allow the Squid port 3128. below command
# firewall-cmd --add-port=3128/tcp --permanent
# firewall-cmd --reload
Step 10: Proxy setting on the browser
It is also possible to connect to the Squid proxy server from the client using browsers, such as firefox/chrome. Navigate to Settings > General > Network Settings > Manual Proxy Configuration and also enable the Use this proxy HTTPS
