PuTTY Network Timeout Error
I'm using PuTTY on my Windows machine to use SSH on my university server. I run analyses that take up to 3 days to complete. I can connect and start the analyses but eventually get an error message 'PuTTY Network Error: Software caused connection abort'. I have problem solved this - the issue lies with the period of inactivity on PuTTY where it is running the analyses. The network connections ect are all fine. At the moment the only way I can get the analyses to complete is to press enter every couple of hours. This really is annoying as I have to get up during the night!
I'm not a computer whizz whatsoever and would really apprentice if anyone could suggest a solution.
Thanks :)
2 Answers
Either of the following methods (I prefer the second but YMMV)
- Prevent timeout
- Fiddle with Putty's settings such as
Enable TCP Keepalivesandseconds between keepalives. - Tell the shell not to get bored (
unset TMOUT)
- Fiddle with Putty's settings such as
- Change what you are doing so you don't hold a session open while inactive for several days
e.g.
nohup ./my_analysis > analysis.out 2> analysis.err &; exit;You can check progress by e.g. logging in again and using
tail -f analysis.outMore complicated needs can often be accomodated using named pipes.
Other references
- how to make putty ssh connection never to timeout when user is idle?
- How to make putty to not break my session after some time?
- PuTTY and how to keep alive telnet session
You could also use screen if it's available.
It would allow you do run whatever command within a screen session (which wouldn't timeout) and you'd be able to reconnect it later. A basic use could look like the following:
- Run
screen - Start analysis
- Detach (Ctrl+A D) the screen (or wait for the timeout)
- Reconnect later using
screen -r
