Dear Deanna,
> I am having a problem with speed and robustness when displaying back
> graphical programs from my server to my client when using ssh. I see
> that your README file in 1.2.27 says that you can use Optional compression
> of all data with gzip which may result in significan speedups on slow
> connections.
The documentation means "in the case that the network connection itself
is slow."
There is a processing penalty related to using compression, of course.
Whether the penalty is noticeable is related to the processing power of
both your computer and the server you connect to.
On slow links (such as dial-up, ISDN or similar, with low bitrates) the
gain from compression usually exceeds the penalty so incurred, but the
faster the network link itself, the less likely you are to gain anything
by using compression. Of course, any prospect of gain is further blurred
by the fact that different data compress differently...
> I am on a sun workstation using solaris 2.7.
What workstation exactly, and what kind of network connection do you
have to the other machine, and what kind of a machine is the server
(CPU horsepower-wise)?
There's plenty of different Sun workstations around. I wouldn't use
compression on a SparcStation 2 running at 40 MHz - the poor sod has
enough trouble coping with just the encryption that ssh does :-) but
on the 440 MHz UltraSPARC II Ultra 10, maybe, just maybe, if the
other end was fast enough CPU-wise but the link was only 10 Mbps.
Most of our links are 100 Mbps now, so it is rather doubtable whether
there is any benefit to using compression on ssh connections any more.
> Right now from my client I ssh server.com and then
> I manually set the display back.
If you mess with DISPLAY manually, you lose all the benefits provided by
SSH with regard to X11. The graphics are no longer tunneled through the
encrypted (and optionally compressed) channel. Just leave it as it is.
Regards,
--
Atro Tossavainen (Mr.) | The Institute of Biotechnology at the
Systems Analyst | University of Helsinki, Finland, employs
+358-9-19158939 | me, but my opinions are my own.
< URL : http : / / www . iki . fi / atro . tossavainen / >
