After that, check out the default config in /etc/varnish/default.vcl – select the port you want run it on (80) and the port your webserver will run on – change your webserver to run on that different port, launch both, then run varnishlog to see the action in varnish, and finally surf and check out the results in the logs.

After that, check out the default config in /etc/varnish/default.vcl – select the port you want run it on (80) and the port your webserver will run on – change your webserver to run on that different port, launch both, then run varnishlog to see the action in varnish, and finally surf and check out the results in the logs.

> 1. Which distro/OS gives me the best performance & stability?
> I am thinking about using Ubuntu.

Varnish is developed to work with the features of FreeBSD 6.x and Linux 2.6 – so any current Linux would be fine. I run it on Debian at home, so Ubuntu will be identical.

> 2. Is varnish sitting in-path in reg. of cabling?

I have it on the same server, just running on :80 and pointing to the other port for the ‘real’ webserver. If you are just running it on server, it’s even easier. Is it in-path? Not sure what you’re asking, see the next question for the layout.

3. Can I cable like this: webserver-varnish-firewall-router?

Internet
|
Firewall
|
Varnish
|
Webserver

> 4. How do I set up IP addresses for this setup?

If you’re just running on a separate server, just give it whatever IP you are running on your internal private network; only thing to do is have any www requests port :80, be directed to your Varnish server by your Firewall/Router instead of your webserver.

> 5. Should do a vanilla/default install or is there more config to do?

To get started, very little config to do, there’s two things you need to change after install:

edit /etc/default/varnish

change:
VARNISH_LISTEN_PORT=6081

to:
VARNISH_LISTEN_PORT=80

edit /etc/varnish/vcl.conf

backend default {
set backend.host = “127.0.0.1″;
set backend.port = “80″;
}

Just change the set backend.host line to your webserver’s IP – so if it was 192.168.1.10

set backend.host = “192.168.1.10″;

> I mean, as far as I understad, this varnish http-accelerator
> can be installed on a standalone box so it doesn’t need
> to change anything on the web server it is accelerating
> the connection to.

Yep, that’s right, just have Varnish handle the web requests before the webserver, and you’re set.

One thing, instead of installing the version Debian/Ubuntu has in the repos (something like 1.0.x) download the latest (1.1.1) from here:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=155816&package_id=173643&release_id=533569

Grab the libvarnish and varnish debs and install those. Give me a shout if you have any other questions for install, I’ve been running it at work on a few Red Hat Enterprise servers (not a fan of that distro though…) and it’s been amazing.

While you’re at it, feel free to checkout another (simplified) article I wrote about Varnish for Tech Republic, the graph should tell you about its performance:
http://phil.cryer.us/articles/varnish.html

> 1. Which distro/OS gives me the best performance & stability?
> I am thinking about using Ubuntu.

Varnish is developed to work with the features of FreeBSD 6.x and Linux 2.6 – so any current Linux would be fine. I run it on Debian at home, so Ubuntu will be identical.

> 2. Is varnish sitting in-path in reg. of cabling?

I have it on the same server, just running on :80 and pointing to the other port for the ‘real’ webserver. If you are just running it on server, it’s even easier. Is it in-path? Not sure what you’re asking, see the next question for the layout.

3. Can I cable like this: webserver-varnish-firewall-router?

Internet
|
Firewall
|
Varnish
|
Webserver

> 4. How do I set up IP addresses for this setup?

If you’re just running on a separate server, just give it whatever IP you are running on your internal private network; only thing to do is have any www requests port :80, be directed to your Varnish server by your Firewall/Router instead of your webserver.

> 5. Should do a vanilla/default install or is there more config to do?

To get started, very little config to do, there’s two things you need to change after install:

edit /etc/default/varnish

change:
VARNISH_LISTEN_PORT=6081

to:
VARNISH_LISTEN_PORT=80

edit /etc/varnish/vcl.conf

backend default {
set backend.host = “127.0.0.1″;
set backend.port = “80″;
}

Just change the set backend.host line to your webserver’s IP – so if it was 192.168.1.10

set backend.host = “192.168.1.10″;

> I mean, as far as I understad, this varnish http-accelerator
> can be installed on a standalone box so it doesn’t need
> to change anything on the web server it is accelerating
> the connection to.

Yep, that’s right, just have Varnish handle the web requests before the webserver, and you’re set.

One thing, instead of installing the version Debian/Ubuntu has in the repos (something like 1.0.x) download the latest (1.1.1) from here:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=155816&package;_id=173643&release;_id=533569

Grab the libvarnish and varnish debs and install those. Give me a shout if you have any other questions for install, I’ve been running it at work on a few Red Hat Enterprise servers (not a fan of that distro though…) and it’s been amazing.

While you’re at it, feel free to checkout another (simplified) article I wrote about Varnish for Tech Republic, the graph should tell you about its performance:
http://phil.cryer.us/articles/varnish.html