Dropping SSH connections over the internet

[Alex Janssen]

Luis Mondesi said the following on 01/11/2008 10:32 AM:
> On Jan 10, 2008 11:02 PM, Alex Janssen <alex at ourwoods.org> wrote:
>   
>> I regularly connect from home to a Linux box hidden behind a router at
>> work via SSH.  Most times it is reliable. Other times the connection
>> just stops.  I guess my packets just stop getting to the server.  I can
>> logon immediately with another shell, so the server appears to be ok.
>> Some times the second connection will be interrupted as well.  Then I
>> can start a third and so on.  Other nights, it is rock solid.  I can
>> transfer files with scp and login multiple times to run a bunch of apps.
>> Anyone got any ideas?  I'd like to know if there is something I could do
>> about it, within reason.
>>     
>
> This happens to me as well. As the previous 2 posters said, SSH is
> very resilient. So, it's not SSH. What happens, at least in my case,
> is one of two things:
>
> 1. the router at my workplace has a timeout and just drops connections
> after a while (bad). not even keep alive packets from SSH survive this
> timeout. the behavior I see is that my terminal "freezes" and I can't
> CTRL-C or anything out of it. I have to close my gnome-terminal window
> and reconnect.
> 2. the line gets congested and the router discards packages like
> crazy. this happens to have the same behavior as the last one, except
> that if i leave it on long enough, it will reconnect.
>
> The reason I know it's 2 different things is because we use 2
> different methods to connect to the same remote network. 1 from home
> over public internet (timeout). 2 from one office on one location over
> a private T1 going to a different router.
>
> If you find a solution to this, please post it back. Though I believe
> the answer is in your middle-man (the router or switches that manage
> the connection).
>
> Regards,
>   
I was just logged on to work from home and it stopped communicating 
right in the middle of typing a command.  That doesn't sound like a 
timeout.  I looked trhough the work router configuration for any 
timeouts.  Couldn't find any.  Maybe my routers just suck.

I'm running a DLink DI624 wireless router at home and a Zyxel 642 at 
work.  I have SUA set on the Zyxel to forward ssh requests on a 
non-standard port to linux.

Home                                                                                           
Work
laptop -wireless))) DLINK624 -- bridged_dsl_modem -- pots -- Zyxel642 -- 
switch -- linux

desktop -- DLINK624 ...

Maybe I should get new routers?

Alex

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