linux ssh -X graphical applications will not start when system load is high

Posted by Chrisv on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by Chrisv
Published on 2012-09-01T01:08:29Z Indexed on 2012/09/01 3:40 UTC
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Filed under:

linux

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ubuntu

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ssh

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x

So I am using ssh -X to access a server. I am at a Xubuntu desktop accessing a Ubuntu server that is in the next room. Usually everything works fine, but when the system load gets high, any graphical applications I have freeze and fail to be restarted.

This happens even if the process that is causing the high load has been niced to a low priority with "nice -n 19". And even though the system load is high, the command line works fine with no delay, and other applications I have running on the server (e.g. virtual machines) run fine. But any graphical application running through X dies.

When the graphical applications fail they usually give out an error message that suggests a time-out.

It seems that something connected to X has a low priority and times out. But what is it, and how does one fix it?

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