I'm not really sure of the best spot to post this, but I was wondering if SyncTerm could get an option for some simple Keep Alive requests to be sent every minute or so?

I've seen this in other terminal software, and it happens to help with connections to my own BBS. I think whatever happens on my connection is due to the firewall in front of the BBS dropping connections that do not appear active, and I've got no way of shutting that off. But a keep alive seems to do the trick with it.

Thanks,
KenDB3

---
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Re: SyncTERM feature request
By: KenDB3 to All on Sun Feb 11 2018 12:53 am

I'm not really sure of the best spot to post this, but I was wondering if SyncTerm could get an option for some simple Keep Alive requests to be sent every minute or so?

I've seen this in other terminal software, and it happens to help with connections to my own BBS. I think whatever happens on my connection is due to the firewall in front of the BBS dropping connections that do not appear active, and I've got no way of shutting that off. But a keep alive seems to do the trick with it.

I passed it on.

What protocol are you using btw? The Synchronet Telnet server does have the "GA" (go ahead) option which can help to keep a TCP session active.

digital man

Synchronet "Real Fact" #77:
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Re: SyncTERM feature request
By: KenDB3 to All on Sun Feb 11 2018 12:53 am

I'm not really sure of the best spot to post this, but I was wondering if SyncTerm could get an option for some simple Keep Alive requests to be sent every minute or so?

I've seen this in other terminal software, and it happens to help with connections to my own BBS. I think whatever happens on my connection is due to the firewall in front of the BBS dropping connections that do not appear active, and I've got no way of shutting that off. But a keep alive seems to do the trick with it.

I passed it on.

What protocol are you using btw? The Synchronet Telnet server does have the "GA" (go ahead) option which can help to keep a TCP session active.

digital man

Thanks DM!

It happens with all three (Telnet, RLogin, and SSH). I double checked, and I have the Go-Ahead option turned on. It's really weird, it affects certain terminal emulaters, and it took me a while to pin down what the difference was. Connections stayed alive in PuTTY and NetRunner, but would die in SyncTERM and Qodem.

Then I noticed the log showed a Telnet GA for the ones where it didn't drop out. So, to test, Qodem has the ability to turn on a Go-Ahead, and this fixed it for Qodem.

It's actually not the drop that bugs me quite as much as the ghost session that is left. It shows I am still logged in for quite a while when the connection gets cut off in this way. I can clear it out faster by turning off the terminal server and turning it back on.

I'm very nearly sure it's the firewall I have in front of the bbs, however I'm not really in a spot to replace it right now.

Again, thank you for passing this one along.

~KenDB3

---
■ Synchronet ■ KD3net-Rhode Island's only BBS about nothing. http://bbs.kd3.us
* Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)

Re: SyncTERM feature request
By: KenDB3 to All on Sun Feb 11 2018 12:53 am

I'm not really sure of the best spot to post this, but I was wondering if SyncTerm could get an option for some simple Keep Alive requests to be sent every minute or so?

I've seen this in other terminal software, and it happens to help with connections to my own BBS. I think whatever happens on my connection is due to the firewall in front of the BBS dropping connections that do not appear active, and I've got no way of shutting that off. But a keep alive seems to do the trick with it.

Thanks,
KenDB3

if you go on my bbs on bbs.eob-bbs.com you can see that i have an animated prompt and pauses that actually keeps the user 'active' (i built in a disconnect timer because of this). it would be very easy to do

http://i.imgur.com/c5KEU9Q.png
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Re: Re: SyncTERM feature request
By: KenDB3 to Digital Man on Sun Feb 11 2018 07:38 am

It happens with all three (Telnet, RLogin, and SSH). I double checked, and I have the Go-Ahead option turned on. It's really weird, it affects certain terminal emulaters, and it took me a while to pin down what the difference was. Connections stayed alive in PuTTY and NetRunner, but would die in SyncTERM and Qodem.

I just committed a change to enable TCP keep-alives. Give that a shot.

digital man

Synchronet "Real Fact" #2:
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Re: Re: SyncTERM feature request
By: KenDB3 to Digital Man on Sun Feb 11 2018 07:38 am

It happens with all three (Telnet, RLogin, and SSH). I double checked, and I have the Go-Ahead option turned on.

The Go-Ahead option is only applicable to Telnet. And it's main purpose (from the server) is to help detect a disconnected socket.

It's really weird, it affects certain
terminal emulaters, and it took me a while to pin down what the difference was. Connections stayed alive in PuTTY and NetRunner, but would die in SyncTERM and Qodem.

How long of an inactivity period is required before the connection 'dies'?

digital man

This Is Spinal Tap quote #12:
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Re: Re: SyncTERM feature request
By: KenDB3 to Digital Man on Sun Feb 11 2018 07:38 am

It happens with all three (Telnet, RLogin, and SSH). I double checked, and I have the Go-Ahead option turned on.

The Go-Ahead option is only applicable to Telnet. And it's main purpose (from the server) is to help detect a disconnected socket.

It's really weird, it affects certain
terminal emulaters, and it took me a while to pin down what the difference was. Connections stayed alive in PuTTY and NetRunner, but would die in SyncTERM and Qodem.

How long of an inactivity period is required before the connection 'dies'?

digital man

Sorry I haven't had a chance to get back. I finally did some testing to try and isolate it.

Like you said, Telnet is not being affected. I just happen to use it less than RLogin and SSH, so therein was my misconception.

Both RLogin and SSH die somewhere between 5 and 6 minutes of inactivity. Hard to say exactly when. I was good once around 5:05, but not at, say, 5:35.

~KenDB3

---
■ Synchronet ■ KD3net-Rhode Island's only BBS about nothing. http://bbs.kd3.us
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Re: Re: SyncTERM feature request
By: KenDB3 to Digital Man on Thu Feb 22 2018 03:23 am

Re: Re: SyncTERM feature request
By: KenDB3 to Digital Man on Sun Feb 11 2018 07:38 am

It happens with all three (Telnet, RLogin, and SSH). I double checked, and I have the Go-Ahead option turned on.

The Go-Ahead option is only applicable to Telnet. And it's main purpose (from the server) is to help detect a disconnected socket.

It's really weird, it affects certain
terminal emulaters, and it took me a while to pin down what the difference was. Connections stayed alive in PuTTY and NetRunner, but would die in SyncTERM and Qodem.

How long of an inactivity period is required before the connection 'dies'?

Sorry I haven't had a chance to get back. I finally did some testing to try and isolate it.

Like you said, Telnet is not being affected. I just happen to use it less than RLogin and SSH, so therein was my misconception.

Both RLogin and SSH die somewhere between 5 and 6 minutes of inactivity. Hard to say exactly when. I was good once around 5:05, but not at, say, 5:35.

If that's the case, then TCP keepalives shouldn't help you. Did you try with a build that includes the TCP keepalive change?

digital man

This Is Spinal Tap quote #28:
We've got Armadillos in our trousers. It's really quite frightening.
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