[linux] Keep SSH session alive

I use ssh -p8520 username@remote_host to login remote server.

Issue:

It is always connected and works properly when I am in the work place. Unfortunately, terminal freezes in 10 - 15 minutes after I connected with the remote server from home.

There's no error/timeout report on the console but the cursor cannot move any more.

When enter w to check the login users, some zombies login users are there, and I have to kill them manually.

This is quite annoying. Can anyone help me?

I wanted a one-time solution:

ssh -o ServerAliveInterval=60 [email protected]

Stored it in an alias:

alias sshprod='ssh -v -o ServerAliveInterval=60 [email protected]'

Now can connect like this:

me@MyMachine:~$ sshprod

FYI Putty Users can set the options here

For those wondering, @edward-coast

If you want to set the keep alive for the server, add this to /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

ClientAliveInterval 60
ClientAliveCountMax 2

ClientAliveInterval: Sets a timeout interval in seconds after which if no data has been received from the client, sshd(8) will send a message through the encrypted channel to request a response from the client.

ClientAliveCountMax: Sets the number of client alive messages (see below) which may be sent without sshd(8) receiving any messages back from the client. If this threshold is reached while client alive messages are being sent, sshd will disconnect the client, terminating the session.

We can keep our ssh connection alive by having following Global configurations

Add the following line to the /etc/ssh/ssh_config file:

ServerAliveInterval 60