[GRLUG] question re terminal freezing

[Greg Folkert]

On Fri, 2013-11-22 at 12:28 -0500, Eric Beversluis wrote:
> When I'm connected to a computer via ssh from my terminal (in Fedora
> 19), if I'm not active for a while the terminal seems to freeze up and
> become unresponsive. All I can do is shut the terminal--and then I get a
> warning that there is a process still running (the ssh connection?).
> 
> Is this expected behavior from the terminal? Is there some workaround so
> I don't lose all the results that are in the existing terminal (other
> than leaving it open while I work from a different terminal)?

If this is "outside" your local network or you are using a consumer
classed "router" to connect to locally. You are experiencing "session
timeout".

Typically, 300 seconds is the session timeout.

I add this to my /etc/ssh/ssh_config:

        ServerAliveInterval 270

This then makes you ssh client "ping" the server every 270 seconds. This
doesn't hurt the server in any way, but does keep you session alive
through you consumer grade router/firewall.

PCI Compliance doesn't like the "server version" of this in an
SSHD_CONFIG, but you can put in /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

        ClientAliveInterval 270

This does the same thing, but forces the Server to try and keep your
session alive.

If you need more info on this, I suggest you go get the O'Reilly book on
SSH.

        SSH, The Secure Shell: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition

That will help you a lot. It is a few years old, but in all reality, SSH
hasn't changed much. I've got it and it has really helped me finger out
things much better with integration with SSH. Plus it is a nice
reference for things rather than "man ssh" or "man ssh_config" or "man
sshd_config"

Cheers.
-- 
greg at gregfolkert.net
PGP key 1024D/B524687C 2003-08-05
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