Mosh: Shell for Users on the Move
![Dmitri Popov Dmitri Popov](/var/linux_magazin/storage/images/online/blogs/productivity-sauce/275404-17-eng-US/Productivity-Sauce.png)
Productivity Sauce
The ability to connect and control remote machines via SSH is a boon for users on the move, but an unreliable and slow Internet connection can turn an SSH session into an exercise in frustration. Enter Mosh, a mobile shell that works wonders even on a shaky and anemic Internet connection. This tool offers several features designed to deal with challenges posed by unreliable Internet connections. For starters, Mosh provides a mechanism for handling dropped connections. This means, among other things, that when you put your machine to sleep and wake it up later, Mosh resumes the connection. In addition to that, the tool supports connection roaming, which can come in handy when you hop from one type of connection (e.g., Wi-Fi) to another (e.g., Ethernet).
Deploying Mosh isn't particularly difficult. The tool is available in the software repositories of many popular Linux distributions, so you can install it using your distro's package manager. Alternatively, you can compile the software from source. You have to install Mosh on both a remote host and a client. Mosh uses SSH to log in a user to the remote host. Once the user is logged in, Mosh uses a UDP connection on a port between 60000 and 61000. In practical terms, this means that the remote host must have an SSH server up and running, and you have to configure SSH and UDP port forwarding on your router.
Using Mosh is as easy as it gets. On the client machine, run the mosh user@remotehost command (replace user and remotehost with the actual user name and IP address or domain name of the remote host). If you are using an Android device to connect and control remote hosts, you'll be pleased to learn that the tweaked version of the IRSSI ConnectBot app provides support for Mosh.
comments powered by DisqusSubscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
![Learn More](https://www.linux-magazine.com/var/linux_magazin/storage/images/media/linux-magazine-eng-us/images/misc/learn-more/834592-1-eng-US/Learn-More_medium.png)
News
-
NVIDIA Released Driver for Upcoming NVIDIA 560 GPU for Linux
Not only has NVIDIA released the driver for its upcoming CPU series, it's the first release that defaults to using open-source GPU kernel modules.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 24.07 Released
If you’re into rolling release Linux distributions, OpenMandriva ROME has a new snapshot with a new kernel.
-
Kernel 6.10 Available for General Usage
Linus Torvalds has released the 6.10 kernel and it includes significant performance increases for Intel Core hybrid systems and more.
-
TUXEDO Computers Releases InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen9 Laptop
Sporting either AMD or Intel CPUs, the TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 is an extremely compact, lightweight, sturdy powerhouse.
-
Google Extends Support for Linux Kernels Used for Android
Because the LTS Linux kernel releases are so important to Android, Google has decided to extend the support period beyond that offered by the kernel development team.
-
Linux Mint 22 Stable Delayed
If you're anxious about getting your hands on the stable release of Linux Mint 22, it looks as if you're going to have to wait a bit longer.
-
Nitrux 3.5.1 Available for Install
The latest version of the immutable, systemd-free distribution includes an updated kernel and NVIDIA driver.
-
Debian 12.6 Released with Plenty of Bug Fixes and Updates
The sixth update to Debian "Bookworm" is all about security mitigations and making adjustments for some "serious problems."
-
Canonical Offers 12-Year LTS for Open Source Docker Images
Canonical is expanding its LTS offering to reach beyond the DEB packages with a new distro-less Docker image.
-
Plasma Desktop 6.1 Released with Several Enhancements
If you're a fan of Plasma Desktop, you should be excited about this new point release.