Slow SSH access using Terminal on OSX 10.4.7

[b0bby]

Just in case someone's in the same boat, here's how I solved this little pickle: logging in via SSH through the MacBook's Terminal app was taking around 5 minutes to prompt me for my password. After Googling the problem, I came about this article. (http://macnewbie.wordpress.com/2006/08/30/slow-ssh-connections-on-mac-os-x/)

In essence, just edit your /etc/hosts file and add something like this to the bottom:

192.168.0.200 myunixserver

SSH login was okay after this.

[jhuckabee]

I experienced the same slowness the first day or two when I signed up for my plan. Yesterday, after a few days away, I went to SSH in, and it came back with the password prompt right away. So, I don't know if maybe there were some DNS issues or what, but for me it cleared itself up over a few days.

[retep]

You can also set a reverse dns (ptr) record for your IP at http://rimuhosting.com/cp/rdns.jsp. This can help speed up the connections to your server from a mac pc.

[jhuckabee]

Thanks!

I checked and my reverse DNS was already setup for my main IP address.

[Jeff Mincey]

Even absent a PTR record, I have not experienced delays in using SSH in a bash shell on an OS X config (such as 10.4.x). I agree this is a DNS issue; and while editing your host file will be a quick fix, you might re-evaluate the DNS server you are using and whether it is kept up to date or is using an old cache which needs to be flushed.

[rjharrison]

This fixed the (severe) delays that I was having.

http://maestric.com/en/doc/fix-slow-ssh-connections-delays-on-mac-os-x