Putty Sessions Time Out due to Inactivity

The ssh client PuTTY can be configured to maintain a connection and not time out due to inactivity.

 

To set up a new connection with "keep alives" to maintain your connection follow the steps below:

1. Open the PuTTy application and navigate to the Options panel.
2. Select Connection
3. In the field Sending null packets to keep session active change the default value from 0 to 1800 (30 minutes)
4. Check the Enable TCP keepalives (SO_KEEPALIVE option) check box.
   Note: This option may not be available in older versions of the PuTTY client.
5. Select Session from the left hand menu.
6. In the Host Name (or IP Address) field enter the destination hostname, for example vayu.nci.org.au
7. In the Saved Sessions box enter a name for the session, for example vayu.
8. Select Save

Any new sessions will now use these modified connection options.

 

To modify an existing session with "keep alives" to maintain your connection follow the steps below:

1. Open the PuTTy application and navigate to the Options panel.
2. Load the session definition by selecting it from the list.
3. Click Load
4. Select Connection
5. In the field Sending null packets to keep session active change the default value from 0 to 1800 (30 minutes)
6. Check the Enable TCP keepalives (SO_KEEPALIVE option) check box.
   Note: This option may not available in older versions of the PuTTY client.
7. Select Session from the left hand menu
8. Select Save

Any new sessions will now use these modified connection options.

 

To make all new connections include "keep alives" to maintain your ssh connection follow the steps below:

1. Open the PuTTy application and navigate to the Options panel.
2. Select Connection
3. In the field Sending null packets to keep session active change the default value from 0 to 1800 (30 minutes)
4. Check the Enable TCP keepalives (SO_KEEPALIVE option) check box.
   Note: This option may not be available in older versions of the PuTTY client.
5. Select Session from the left hand menu.
6. Select 'Default Settings' in the 'Load, save or delete a stored sessions pane.
7. Select Save

Now any new session created will use the new keepalive times by default.