andreborud
By:
andreborud

Slow to connect to droplet through ssh or ftp

September 29, 2014 12.8k views

Three to four months ago connecting to my droplet through ssh took about a second. Then suddenly it takes from a minute to two before I'm prompted for the password. And then about the same time to get to the command line in my centos droplet.

Sam goes for an ftp connection. A minute to connect and list the files. Another minute for connection is established to upload a file. Then the file upload it self isn't too bad. But still, waiting two minutes to connect isn't cool.

I'm on the cheapest package. But I find it weird that it was quick and then quite a substantial drop in speed.

Is this a know problem? Is it something that can be fixed? Or do I need to upgrade to a more expensive package for quicker connections? Mind you that its only connection that is the problem. The initial connect.

1 comment
  • gaganb October 25, 2015

    Thanks a lot it worked very well for ssh and vim editor.

    Is there a way so that page download (js, css, json) also is fast from my droplet(5$/ 512mb / 1core) ?

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8 Answers
jkostolansky September 29, 2014

Try this:

  1. Edit the ssh config nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

  2. Disable "use dns" option useDNS yes # CHANGE THIS TO no

  3. Save and close ctrl + X, Y, enter

  4. Restart the sshd service service sshd restart

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ikalangitahaja November 15, 2014

Has similar issue, for me i have no useDNS inside sshd_config, should i add it?

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kirien.chen June 27, 2015
[deleted]
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kjetile18b76d48 July 29, 2015
[deleted]
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homeworlddot October 13, 2015

There was a mistake: Restart the sshd service service sshd restart

Correct is: service ssh restart

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dainiusgrincevi February 10, 2016
[deleted]
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dainiusgrincevi February 10, 2016 
- if you dont have that option, just add anywhere
# option use DNS
useDNS no
- after that restart
service sshd restart
- if not available 
service ssh restart
- try log in again
Reply
memelab September 14, 2016

Thanks! Helped me...

For those who are interested: useDNS no is now the default setting

We don't modify this in Debian/Ubuntu. The default was changed to "UseDNS no" in OpenSSH 6.8p1, which is in Ubuntu 15.10 and later.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/openssh/+bug/424371

And an explanation of its use can be found at: http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/56941/what-is-the-point-of-sshd-usedns-option/56947

TLDR;

The UseDNS option is mostly useless.

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