How to keep processes running after ending ssh session?

You should look for modern alternatives like tmux.

tmux is superior to screen for many reasons, here are just some examples:

  • Windows can be moved between session and even linked to multiple sessions
  • Windows can be split horizontally and vertically into panes
  • Support for UTF-8 and 256 colour terminals
  • Sessions can be controlled from the shell without the need to enter a session

Basic Functionality

To get the same functionality as explained in the answer recommending screen, you would need to do the following:

  • ssh into the remote machine
  • start tmux by typing tmux into the shell
  • start the process you want inside the started tmux session
  • leave/detach the tmux session by typing Ctrl+b and then d

You can now safely log off from the remote machine, your process will keep running inside tmux. When you come back again and want to check the status of your process you can use tmux attach to attach to your tmux session.

If you want to have multiple sessions running side-by-side, you should name each session using Ctrl+b and $. You can get a list of the currently running sessions using tmux list-sessions, now attach to a running session with command tmux attach-session -t <session-name>.

tmux can do much more advanced things than handle a single window in a single session. For more information have a look in man tmux or the tmux GitHub page. In particular, here's an FAQ about the main differences between screen and tmux.


Option 1: nohup

The best way is often the simplest.

nohup long-running-command &

It was made specifically for this, it even logs stdout to nohup.log.

man nohup

Option 2: bg + disown

ctrl+z
bg
disown -h

If you want to "background" already running tasks, then Ctrl+Z then run bg to put your most recent suspended task to background, allowing it to continue running. disown will keep the process running after you log out. The -h flag prevents hangup.

screen and others can do it, but that's not what they're for. I recommend nohup for tasks you know you are going to leave behind and bg for tasks you're already running and don't want to re-start.

Keep in mind, both are bash specific. If you're not using bash, then the commands could be different.


You could do that by using screen.

Type man screen to find out more or read this screen man page.

Simple scenario:

  • ssh into your remote box. Type screen Then start the process you want.

  • Press Ctrl-A then Ctrl-D. This will "detach" your screen session but leave your processes running. You can now log out of the remote box.

  • If you want to come back later, log on again and type screen -r This will "resume" your screen session, and you can see the output of your process.

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