Linux Kill SSH Connection

Introduction

As a programmer, you may encounter situations where you need to terminate an SSH connection. This can happen if the connection is stuck or if you need to free up system resources. In this guide, we will explore various methods you can use to kill an SSH connection.

Method 1: Using the kill command

The simplest way to kill an SSH connection is by using the kill command. This command sends a termination signal to a process, causing it to exit.

1. First, list all the SSH connections to your machine to get their process IDs (PIDs):

   $ ps aux | grep ssh
   

2. Look for the PID of the SSH connection you want to terminate.

3. Use the kill command to terminate the connection by specifying the PID of the SSH process:

   $ sudo kill -9 <PID>
   

   Note: The '-9' option sends a SIGKILL signal to the SSH process, which forces it to terminate immediately.

Method 2: Using the pkill command

Another way to kill an SSH connection is by using the pkill command. This command searches for processes by name and terminates them.

1. List all the SSH connections to your machine to get their process names:

   $ ps aux | grep ssh
   

2. Look for the process name of the SSH connection you want to terminate.

3. Use the pkill command to terminate the connection by specifying the process name:

   $ sudo pkill -9 <process name>
   

   Note: The '-9' option sends a SIGKILL signal to the SSH process, which forces it to terminate immediately.

Method 3: Using the killall command

The killall command is similar to the pkill command, but it terminates processes by name.

1. Use the killall command to terminate all SSH connections by specifying the process name:

   $ sudo killall -9 ssh
   

   Note: The '-9' option sends a SIGKILL signal to the SSH process, which forces it to terminate immediately.

Conclusion

In this guide, we explored various methods you can use to kill an SSH connection. The simplest method is to use the kill command, but you can also use the pkill and killall commands to terminate connections by name. Remember to use the '-9' option to force the termination of unresponsive connections.