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Fix slow connections to Ubuntu SSH servers

As of Ubuntu 8.10 and older, connections to SSH servers with default configs can be annoyingly slow. Thisterminal is because the OpenSSH daemon uses DNS to run a reverse lookup on the client to be sure that they aren’t faking their hostname. You can disable most look-ups by implementing the following setting:

As root edit “/etc/ssh/sshd_config” and add the line “UseDNS no“.

This can also be done by running the following command:

sudo echo "UseDNS no" >> /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Sources:

This issue is documented at OpenSSH.org

Fix and more details available at: http://tech.waltco.biz/2008/02/02/ssh-slow-to-connect-in-ubuntu-710-gutsy-gibbon/

Discussion

7 comments for “Fix slow connections to Ubuntu SSH servers”

  1. Thanx, your saved post saved me some hours of trying to find the reason myself.

    Posted by Nudge | April 8, 2010, 8:32 am
  2. On Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx), I had a similar problem. I found out that the /etc/ssh/ssh_config (config file for the ssh client) was overriding the defaults with

    GSSAPIAuthentication yes
    GSSAPIDelegateCredentials no

    I commented out these two lines. Now ssh is not waiting for GSS anymore and the login speed is back to normal.

    Posted by Fred Mora | July 28, 2010, 1:34 pm
  3. It works. Thanks!

    Posted by shining365 | December 2, 2010, 12:28 am
  4. It works for ubuntu 10.10 as well! Thank you!!

    Posted by Skurpi | May 9, 2011, 12:26 am
  5. Good stuff! This DNS trick fixed it up for me.

    Thanks!

    Posted by twig | July 17, 2011, 8:51 pm
  6. Thanks, setting “UseDNS no“ works on my Ubuntu Server 10.04.

    Posted by Etile Ved | December 15, 2011, 5:52 pm
  7. Fred Mora’s tip about GSS config did the trick for me on Ubuntu 11.10, thanks!

    Posted by Kai Carver | January 14, 2012, 12:15 pm

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