Here is my scenario: I am trying to automate some tasks using Paramiko. The tasks need to be started in this order (using the notation (host, task)): (A, 1), (B, 2), (C, 2), (A,3), (B,3) -- essentially starting servers and clients for some testing in the correct order. Further, because in the tests networking may get mucked up, and because I need some of the output from the tests, I would like to just redirect output to a file. In similar scenarios the common response is to use 'screen -m -d' or to use 'nohup'. However with paramiko's exec_cmd, nohup doesn't actually exit. Using: bash -c -l nohup test_cmd & doesnt work either, exec_cmd still blocks to process end. In the screen case, output redirection doesn't work very well, (actually, doesnt work at all the best I can figure out). So, after all that explanation, my question is: is there an easy elegant way to detach processes and capture output in such a way as to end paramiko's exec_cmd blocking? Update The dtach command works nicely for this!