How to keep EC2 instance running after SSH is terminated?

In this blog post, I'm going to list a few commands that will help you to keep the EC2 instance running after SSH is terminated.

Author

Akhilesh Thite

Linux & Mac users

First, Log in to the server with your SSH key.

• To keep the server running in background, use the following command.

screen -d -m

Let's assume you have a python web application, then your command would look like this:

screen -d -m python app.py

Or if you're using node, then your command would look like this:

screen -d -m npm start

• To list the available screens, use the following command.

screen -ls

• To restart the session, use the following command.

screen -r [session restart]

• To quit the session, use the following command.

screen -X -S [session you want to kill] quit

Windows (PuTTY) users

First, SSH into your remote box. Type screen, then start the process you want.

• Press Ctrl-A then Ctrl-D. This will detach your screen session but leave your processes running. Now, you can log out of the remote box.

• If you want to come back later, log on again and type screen -r, this will resume your screen session and you can see the output of your process.

Thank you!