Using SSH over high-latency connection (satellite)

Question

Our only available ISP is satellite where we live. We're currently on HughesNet and waiting (very impatiently) for Starlink's beta to send us our invite. In the meantime, I still need to get into my Linode VPS from time to time, and it's not working at all. We can't SSH to anything remotely, so I'm guessing it's the latency of satellite causing problems.

Additionally, I had a friend on regular terrestrial Internet test the SSH connection, and it responds immediately for him. I also had no problems (ever) when I was still on Comcast.

Is there a way around this? I've searched online but haven't found anything yet. Is there a server or client config I need to use to accommodate the latency? Thanks!

ETA:

Here's what my SSH client says (this is in VSCode):

11:17:46.206] > ssh: connect to host wiccawicci port 22: Connection timed out
[11:17:46.228] > The process tried to write to a nonexistent pipe.
[11:17:46.510] "install" terminal command done
[11:17:46.510] Install terminal quit with output: The process tried to write to a nonexistent pipe.
[11:17:46.510] Received install output: The process tried to write to a nonexistent pipe.
[11:17:46.515] Resolver error: Error: The process tried to write to a nonexistent pipe

and my config:

Host wiccawicci
    HostName wiccawicci.com
    User ----------
    MACs hmac-sha2-256
    IdentityFile C:\Users\claire\.ssh\sshpair
    ConnectTimeout 5

I've tried SSHing to other endpoints without success, so I don't think it's my server, per se.

-vvv test:

PS C:\Users\Claire> ssh -vvv ----------@wiccawicci.com
OpenSSH_for_Windows_8.1p1, LibreSSL 3.0.2
debug1: Reading configuration data C:\\Users\\Claire/.ssh/config
debug3: Failed to open file:C:/ProgramData/ssh/ssh_config error:2
debug2: resolving "wiccawicci.com" port 22
debug2: ssh_connect_direct
debug1: Connecting to wiccawicci.com [72.14.177.31] port 22.
debug3: finish_connect - ERROR: async io completed with error: 10060, io:000002116093E190
debug1: connect to address 72.14.177.31 port 22: Connection timed out
ssh: connect to host wiccawicci.com port 22: Connection timed out

I can't SSH to GitHub either:

OpenSSH_for_Windows_8.1p1, LibreSSL 2.9.2
debug3: Failed to open file:C:/Users/claire/.ssh/config error:2
debug3: Failed to open file:C:/ProgramData/ssh/ssh_config error:2
debug2: resolving "github.com" port 22
ssh: Could not resolve hostname github.com: No such host is known.

I tried that and sadly the JS console doesn't work either. The websocket request never completes according to my browser's debug console. — CXL, Oct 31 '20 at 20:35

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 31 '20 at 16:00

2

If latency is the issue, then there is a useful tool/client called mosh, which has some big benefits when you have a high-latency connection.

If you have another issue however, such as bandwidth between you and the server - then this will not be a viable solution.

answered Oct 31 '20 at 16:00

Ashley Primo

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This looks very useful, thank you! I don't think bandwidth is the problem so much (the sites I run see virtually no traffic outside of myself and a couple of other people), and we definitely have intermittent connectivity issues in general, so this will be super helpful. – CXL Oct 31 '20 at 18:16

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 01 '20 at 21:01

0

Turns out it wasn't HughesNet...we both forgot there was an old Frontier DSL modem/router combo in the network stack, which was filtering port 22.

All is good in Whoville for now...

answered Nov 01 '20 at 21:01

CXL

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Using SSH over high-latency connection (satellite)

2 Answers2