SQUID Clearing cache in a load balancer / caching server

Are you running a SQUID Caching server before your web server to boost up the performance?
If yes and you face issues when the content of the site changes. It might be due to the squid's cache still having the old content. The following steps will help to refresh the cache.

Why we need to clear the cache?
In most cases the content in the cache is out dated with the live data.

What is the normal way to clear the cache?
We can clear the cache by removing the files in the cache directory.

Where is the cache directory?
The cache directory changes from system to system based on the configuration file settings.
We can find the cache directory by looking for the cache_dir property in the /etc/squid/squid.conf file.
Steps to clear the cache:
1. Login as privileged user.
2. Shutdown squid.
Eg: Fedora / Redhat / CentOS
# service squid stop
3. Remove the cache files.
The directory is the path specified in cache_dir
#rm -rf /var/spool/squid/*
4. Start the squid again
# service squid start
5. We should be able to see a message cache created in cache_dir directory.