Managing a server over SSH

Question

I am running a Minecraft server on Fedora 15. I have openssh-server installed on the server and I can connect to it just fine.

Right now, the Minecraft server software opens into a terminal when the user logs in. The server software has a console that accepts commands and prints status updates and stuff like that. I am wondering if there is a way that I can access that already-running server console remotely over SSH.

Solution 1

Use screen. You'll find it in the package manager.

So start a screen session, then start the minecraft server.

Next time you ssh to the box, you can screen -r and it will bring the session back.

Solution 2

If the server is a command line program, consider running it in a screen session.

e.g.:

$ screen
$ minecraft-server-program

Then press Ctrl-A-D to detach from the session. From an ssh session, type in screen -r to resume the screen session.

Comments

[Paul]

Heh. Looks like everyone loves screen. I think Dolda2000 was first.

[Grady S]

Is there any way that I can detach a screen session running locally on the machine while I am using ssh?

[Paul]

If you have a prompt, you can type screen -d. If you are running something, you can type ctrl-a-d. Also, just ending your ssh session will leave the screen session running in a detached state. If you use linux command line more than a little, you really want to get into using screen. It will make you happy. Look online for .screenrc examples. screen can run multple concurrent bash shells that you can switch between, which saves running multiple ssh sessions - and they all survive a logout-login.

[Paul]

While this isn't really a place for chatting - do you know the pros and cons versus screen? Ctrl-b is one already, but I could always remap ctrl-a in screen if it bothered me enough.

[Jin]

@Paul Why does it bother you? I've actually remapped tmux's prefix key from b to a. Anyway, you can check out this Unix.SE question for the comparison. unix.stackexchange.com/questions/549/tmux-vs-gnu-screen

[Paul]

Some of the console apps I use from time to time need ctrl-a - but not frequently enough to make it worthwhile, I just work around it normally.