Linux / UNIX: Speed up SSH X11 Forwarding

I've an CentOS based server and Ubuntu based desktop pc. I'm connecting to my CentOS using ssh X11 forwarding feature. However, speed over the Internet is pretty slow for certain apps such as VMWare console. How do I speed up OpenSSH X11 forwarding using Linux / UNIX desktop system?

You need to use the following syntax to speed up SSH 11 forwarding:

ssh -X -C -c cipher1,cipher2 user@server.example.com

Where,

• -X : Turn on SSH X11 forwarding
• -C : Requests compression of all data. You can also specifies the compression level to use if compression is enabled using the CompressionLevel option in ssh_config file. The argument must be an integer from 1 (fast) to 9 (slow, best). The default level is 6, which is good for most applications.
• -c : Set ciphers. Blowfish is a fast block cipher; it appears very secure and is much faster than 3des. (see sshd man page for more info).

In this example, connect to the ssh server called www544.nixcraft.net.in using vivek user and start firefox browser:
$ ssh -X -C -c blowfish-cbc,arcfour vivek@www544.nixcraft.net
[www544 ~] $ firefox &
You can avoid typing by editing /etc/ssh/ssh_config file as follows:

 
Cipher blowfish
# default line
##Ciphers aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr,arcfour256,arcfour128,aes128-cbc,3des-cbc
## see man page for more info on Ciphers
Ciphers blowfish-cbc,aes128-cbc,3des-cbc,cast128-cbc,arcfour,aes192-cbc,aes256-cbc
Compression yes
 

Save and close the file. You can now simply connect it as follows:
$ ssh -X vivek@www544.nixcraft.net
[www544 ~] $ firefox &

References:

• man pages - ssh, ssh_config, sshd

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