[Discuss] (ssh) Write failed: Broken pipe

[blu at nedharvey.com (Edward Ned Harvey (blu))]

> From: discuss-bounces+blu=nedharvey.com at blu.org [mailto:discuss-
> bounces+blu=nedharvey.com at blu.org] On Behalf Of Greg Rundlett
> (freephile)
> 
> I've been experiencing a broken ssh tunnel that abruptly fails with "Write
> failed: Broken pipe".  (Not the normal timeout experience of "Connection
> reset by peer".)  Google and SO are failing to find me an answer.  (fb
> posted a photo that is irrelevant and got many likes).

I have seen a remarkably similar behavior, and shockingly, learned that it wasn't actually related to or caused by ssh.  Get this:  (Wanna talk about freaky)...

I have a documented process that I'm following.  Type the following command (copy & paste) ... wait for it to ask some question ... type the following answer (copy & paste) etc.

I found that I would get connections dropped (usually "garbled") but with enough repetition, other error messages sometimes.  The failure would only happen when I paste *that* specific command.  #5 on the procedure or whatever.  I could pad the command with extra space characters at the beginning or end, and it wouldn't fail.  I could ping to my heart's content, no failure.  I could send larger packets, smaller packets, or different packets (change a character in the middle of the command) and it would not fail.  I could use a different computer and paste the same command from the same file.  No failure.

The answer turned out to be:  update the vpn client software.  There was just something about that specific command getting encrypted and generating that specific checksum (or whatever) stepping on some weird bug.

So the first thing I suggest to you is:

Try connecting from the LAN.  Or if you are on the LAN, try connecting from a different computer on the LAN.