[squid-users] How well does squid perform under stress?

I did some research for an answer to this question, but, things tend to
always resort to CPU usage and tuning (though, I did get some good
information from those threads also).

We have a squid appliance which is very heavy on CPU (which is
expected). My question isn't really how can I tune it or why is it using
so much CPU, but rather, how well does squid perform on a busy (CPU
wise) box?

I guess another way to ask is, does squid's performance scale linearly
as the box (CPU specifically) usage increases or does performance
actually degrade/level off once the CPU is approaches 100% utilization?

Another question is: once the system is pushed to a maximum (or beyond),
are things just slow or should abnormal behavior be expected?

Thanks
Benji

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Benji Spencer
System Administrator
Ph: 312-329-2288