---
title: Stalled SSH connections
summary: >
My pfSense removed valid connections obviosly.
This is how I solved it.
The thumbnail was created with Google AI (Imagen 3).
date: 2024-10-06T19:30:17+02:00
lastmod: 2024-11-17T11:19:39+0000
categories:
- computerstuff
tags:
- networking
- pfSense
- openssh
- selfhost
---
I spent some time adjusting my SSH configuration because I often get stalled
connections to my servers but I never got that fixed until recently, when I
started looking in my firewall settings on the pfSense.
After changing the Firewall Optimization Settings within
System → Advanced → Firewall & NAT to
Conservative I had no more of these hangs of my SSH sessions.
I use the `ControlMaster` setting in my SSH configuration so the stalled
connections have to be killed with something like
```console
$ ssh -O exit {short hostname}
```
every time -- which is annoying.