O.T.: How to make an idle connection persist

[Chuck Hallenbeck]

I'm looking for some direction on a funny issue here. There is a system 
running Debian testing which I want to be able to have log onto my own 
desktop, with a connection that persists, and does not time out. But 
the system I am talking about drops its connection if it remains idle 
for a time. It drops the connection whether it is an ssh connection or a 
telnet connection. When I initiate a connection from my own system to 
another host, I have no problem letting the connection remain idle for 
hours, it is still alive when I need it. But when the connection comes 
to me from the Debian Etch host, it will drop out if it remains idle, 
whether that connection is ssh or telnet. It has to be used to remain 
alive.

Where do I begin to look for the problem here? Is there a network 
configuration I need to tweak? I am using the ssh option TCPKeepAlive, 
but on the telnet side, I find no discussion of persistent connections 
in the telnet docs.

Any clues much appreciated.

Chuck

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