WEB dismal performance

[spy1309]

I work for a small non profit who has a disadvantaged kids school, the students are a pretty industrious band and they use proxies to go to shady web sites so I was looking on some software to block them.
I loaded UT without a hitch and during testing with 3 computers it worked fine, the machine is an Acer with a 3.2Ghz Intel Celeron, 1GB DDR2 memory, 80Gb hard drive, 2 x network 10/100 Realtek.
The soonest I installed the machine at the school the web browsing become unbearable, I stopped all the modules but the Web filtering and same result, the bars in the web filtering window are maxed most of the time, the CPU load is 35-40% at best, the memory is 530Mb free so the machine is not choked.
The network setup is router-UT-switch, UT box is in bridge mode and has a static IP, we host our own DNS.
The box has around 50 clients but they do not surf all 50 at the same time.
Any input is greatly appreciated.

[Danp]

What version of UT did you install? Also, did you verify that the QOS option isn't enabled?

[proactivens]

The network cards may be the problem here. I find that broadcom or intel NICS work the best.

[sky-knight]

Celeron + Untangle = bad
software driven nics + only 1gb of ram = bad

Untangle really needs the number crunching power of a real CPU not the cache nerfed celeron. I really think however, given the size of your organization that ram is your real limiter. If you don't want to take that box to 2gb I would suggest going with Intel Pro100s network interfaces. That will get the network load out of ram and give the thing some thinking space.

[spy1309]

Well I tried first on a Dell Opltiplex GX260, 2.0Ghz Pentium IV, 1Gb memory, 20Gb hard drive, Intel 10/100 network and it behaved the same even with Intel NIC s.

Also as I stated the computer has over 500Mb memory free, the processor as I stated is loaded at best 45% so the argument that the processor is weak and the memory is not enough does not stand.

The QOS is not enabled, only WEB filtering is enabled. All the rest of the modules are turned off.

The issue is the same regardless if I use the Dell Optiplex or the Acer machine.

I am running the latest version 6.0.

I love the software as a concept it is one of the best but to many complaints about the speed .....no ofence is like having a Ferrari and going speed limit.

[gotkimchi]

do some speed tests with and without Untangle in the network. Every site is slow, or certain sites are slow. Also, you might try with a public DNS like 4.2.2.1 Made some difference for my home Untangle solution.

[dhtc]

do some speed tests with and without Untangle in the network. Every site is slow, or certain sites are slow. Also, you might try with a public DNS like 4.2.2.1 Made some difference for my home Untangle solution.

+1 My internal DNS server was slow in doing lookups on the web. I added a 2nd DNS server to the DHCP clients (open DNS #1 208.67.222.222) and it made a world of difference.

[leli]

I agree with sky-knight on the celeron and ram thing.

Just fyi, I have 2 untangle servers running on Dell GX260. Had to go up to 2.4g processors (less than that not good) and these are on smaller networks. Another one I switched to a 3.0g P4 and 2gb ram, worked very nicely.

Also, as dhtc and gotkimchi say, try better DNS servers.

[hescominsoon]

I work for a small non profit who has a disadvantaged kids school, the students are a pretty industrious band and they use proxies to go to shady web sites so I was looking on some software to block them.
I loaded UT without a hitch and during testing with 3 computers it worked fine, the machine is an Acer with a 3.2Ghz Intel Celeron, 1GB DDR2 memory, 80Gb hard drive, 2 x network 10/100 Realtek.
The soonest I installed the machine at the school the web browsing become unbearable, I stopped all the modules but the Web filtering and same result, the bars in the web filtering window are maxed most of the time, the CPU load is 35-40% at best, the memory is 530Mb free so the machine is not choked.
The network setup is router-UT-switch, UT box is in bridge mode and has a static IP, we host our own DNS.
The box has around 50 clients but they do not surf all 50 at the same time.
Any input is greatly appreciated.

do you have a cable connection or dsl or what?

[hescominsoon]

I agree with sky-knight on the celeron and ram thing.

Just fyi, I have 2 untangle servers running on Dell GX260. Had to go up to 2.4g processors (less than that not good) and these are on smaller networks. Another one I switched to a 3.0g P4 and 2gb ram, worked very nicely.

Also, as dhtc and gotkimchi say, try better DNS servers.

I disagree with the celeron part. It depends on the load. 50% is only half loaded so that's not enough to point the finger.