9/19/2015

Creating an HTTP Proxy Using Squid on CentOS 6.4 - Linode Guides & Tutorials

Guides&Tutorials(/docs/)
IPs,Networking&Domains(/docs/networking/)
SquidProxy/Cache(/docs/networking/squid/)
CreatinganHTTPProxyUsingSquidonCentOS6.4

Creating an HTTP Proxy Using Squid on

CentOS 6.4
UpdatedMonday,March3rd,2014byAlexFornuto

Squidisaproxy/cacheapplicationwithavarietyofconfigurationsanduses.Thisguide
willcoverusingSquidasanHTTPproxy.Pleasenotethatunlessyoufollowthelast
sectionoftheguideAnonymizingTraffic,thiswillnotanonymizeyourtraffictothe
outsideworld,asyouroriginatingIPaddresswillstillbesentintheXForwardedFor
header.Additionally,thetrafficisnotencryptedandwillstillbevisibleonyourlocal
network.Ifyouarelookingforasolutionthatoffersgreatersecurity,youmaywantto
lookatourguidetoSettingupanSSHTunnel(/docs/networking/ssh/settingupanssh
tunnelwithyourlinodeforsafebrowsing)orDeployVPNServiceswithOpenVPN
(/docs/networking/vpn/securecommunicationswithopenvpnoncentos6).

Note
Thisguideiswrittenforanonrootuser.Commandsthatrequireelevatedprivilegesare
prefixedwith sudo.Ifyourenotfamiliarwiththe sudocommand,youcancheckour
UsersandGroups(/docs/toolsreference/linuxusersandgroups)guide.

Installing Squid
1. SquidisavailableintheCentOSrepositories.Toensureyoursystemisuptodate
andinstallSquidrunthefollowingcommands:
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sudoyumupdate
sudoyuminstallsquid

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2. Copytheoriginalconfigurationfiletokeepasabackup:
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sudocp/etc/squid/squid.conf/etc/squid/squid.conf.default

Configuring Squid as an HTTP proxy

SquidProxycanbeusedasanHTTPproxytobypasslocalnetworkrestrictions,ormask
yourtruelocationtotheworld.

Basic Setup
ThissectioncoverstheeasiestwaytouseSquidasanHTTPproxy,usingonlytheclient
IPaddressforauthentication.
1. EdittheSquidconfigurationfileandaddthefollowinglines:

File excerpt: /etc/squid/squid.conf

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aclclientsrc12.34.56.78#HomeIPhttp\_accessallowclient

Besuretoreplaceclientwithanameidentifyingtheconnectingcomputer,and
12.34.56.78withyourlocalIPaddress.Thecomment #HomeIPisntrequired,but
commentscanbeusedtohelpidentifyclients.
1. Onceyouvesavedandexitedthefile,startSquid:
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sudoservicesquidrestart

2. Atthispointyoucanconfigureyourlocalbrowseroroperatingsystemsnetwork
settingstouseyourLinodeasanHTTPproxy.Howtodothiswilldependonyour
choiceofOSandbrowser.Onceyouvemadethechangetoyoursettings,testthe
connectionbypointingyourbrowseratawebsitethattellsyouyourIPaddress,
suchasifconfig(http://ifconfig.me),WhatismyIP(http://www.whatismyip.com/),or
byGooglingWhatismyip(https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+my+ip).
3. Additionalclientscanbedefinedbyaddingnew acllinesto

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/etc/squid/squid.conf.Accesstotheproxyisgrantedbyaddingthename

definedbyeach acltothe http_accessallowline.

Advanced Authentication
ThefollowingconfigurationallowsforauthenticatedaccesstotheSquidproxyservice
usingusernamesandpasswords.
1. Youwillneedthe htpasswdutility.IfyouveinstalledApacheonyourLinode,you
willalreadyhaveit.Otherwiserun:
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sudoyuminstallhttpdtools

2. CreateafiletostoreSquidusersandpasswords,andchangeownership:
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sudotouch/etc/squid/squid_passwd
sudochownsquid/etc/squid/squid_passwd

3. Createausernamepasswordpair:
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sudohtpasswd/etc/squid/squid_passwduser1

Replaceuser1withausername.Youwillbepromptedtocreateapasswordforthis
user:
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Newpassword:
Retypenewpassword:
Addingpasswordforuseruser1

Youcanrepeatthisstepatanytimetocreatenewusers.
4. EdittheSquidconfigurationfileandaddthefollowinglines:

File excerpt: /etc/squid/squid.conf

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auth_parambasicprogram/usr/lib64/squid/ncsa_auth/etc/squid/squid_passwd
aclncsa_usersproxy_authREQUIRED
http_accessallowncsa_users

5. Onceyouvesavedandexitedthefile,restartSquid:
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sudoservicesquidrestart

6. Atthispoint,youcanconfigureyourlocalbrowseroroperatingsystemsnetwork
settingstouseyourLinodeasanHTTPproxy.Youwillneedtospecifythatthe
serverrequiresauthentication,andprovidetheusernameandpassword.Howtodo
thiswilldependonyourchoiceofOSandbrowser.Onceyouvemadethesettings
change,testtheconnectionbypointingyourbrowseratawebsitethattellsyou
yourIPaddress,suchasifconfig(http://ifconfig.me),WhatismyIP
(http://www.whatismyip.com/),orbyGooglingWhatismyip
(https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+my+ip).
7. Toremoveausersaccesstotheproxy,youmustdeletetheirentryinthe
squid_passwdfile.Eachuserisrepresentedinthefileonasinglelineintheformat
of user:passwordhash:
/etc/squid/squid_passwd
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user1:gh48gfnouser2:9b83v5hd

IfyouareusingNano,thecommand Control+kwillremovetheentirelinewhere
thecursorrests.Onceyouvesavedandexitedthefile,restartSquid:
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sudoservicesquidrestart

Anonymizing Traffic
InordertomaskyourIPaddressfromserversyouconnectto,youwillneedtoaddthe
followinglinestotheSquidconfigurationfile.

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File excerpt: /etc/squid/squid.conf

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forwarded_foroff
request_header_accessAllowallowall
request_header_accessAuthorizationallowall
request_header_accessWWWAuthenticateallowall
request_header_accessProxyAuthorizationallowall
request_header_accessProxyAuthenticateallowall
request_header_accessCacheControlallowall
request_header_accessContentEncodingallowall
request_header_accessContentLengthallowall
request_header_accessContentTypeallowall
request_header_accessDateallowall
request_header_accessExpiresallowall
request_header_accessHostallowall
request_header_accessIfModifiedSinceallowall
request_header_accessLastModifiedallowall
request_header_accessLocationallowall
request_header_accessPragmaallowall
request_header_accessAcceptallowall
request_header_accessAcceptCharsetallowall
request_header_accessAcceptEncodingallowall
request_header_accessAcceptLanguageallowall
request_header_accessContentLanguageallowall
request_header_accessMimeVersionallowall
request_header_accessRetryAfterallowall
request_header_accessTitleallowall
request_header_accessConnectionallowall
request_header_accessProxyConnectionallowall
request_header_accessUserAgentallowall
request_header_accessCookieallowall
request_header_accessAlldenyall

Onceyouvesavedandexitedthefile,restartSquid:
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sudoservicesquidrestart

More Information

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Youmaywishtoconsultthefollowingresourcesforadditionalinformationonthistopic.
Whiletheseareprovidedinthehopethattheywillbeuseful,pleasenotethatwecannot
vouchfortheaccuracyortimelinessofexternallyhostedmaterials.
SquidOfficialSite(http://www.squidcache.org/)

ThisguideispublishedunderaCCBYND3.0(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bynd/3.0/us/)license.

Get paid to write for Linode.

We'realwaysexpandingourdocs.Ifyouliketohelppeople,canwrite,and
wanttoearnsomecash,learnhowyoucanearn$250foreveryguideyou
write(/docs/contribute)andwepublish.

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