Connection Retry and Reconnect¶

StormTunnel handles connection failures at two stages:

• Auto-Retry -- retries when the initial connection fails. Requires Premium.
• Auto-Reconnect -- reconnects when an established tunnel drops. Free.

Auto-Retry (Premium)¶

Auto-Retry activates when a tunnel fails to connect on the first attempt. It does not apply to tunnels that were previously connected and then dropped -- that is Auto-Reconnect.

Backoff behavior: retries wait 5, 10, 20, then 40 seconds, with subsequent delays capped at 60 seconds, up to the configured number of retries after the first attempt. This includes retryable AWS session-start failures and SSH failures before launch. Authentication, host-key, AWS AccessDenied, expired-token and invalid-configuration errors stop immediately. An error is shown once when retries stop. Selecting Stop cancels pending retries. This setting controls initial retries only; Auto-Reconnect has its own limit.

Configure¶

1. Edit tunnel, open Advanced Options.
2. Enable Intelligent Auto-Retry.
3. Set Maximum Retries (1--5 retries after the first attempt, default: 3).

Free users see the Intelligent Auto-Retry option marked "Requires Premium" but cannot enable it.

Auto-Reconnect (Free)¶

Auto-Reconnect activates when a tunnel that was previously connected drops unexpectedly, including network interruptions, server restarts, and AWS Session Manager sessions ended remotely. It also supports restoring tunnels after sleep/wake.

After a drop, StormTunnel makes up to 10 reconnect attempts, with delays of 5, 10, 20, 40, then 60 seconds. Later delays stay capped at 60 seconds. This free reconnect limit is independent of your license and the Premium Maximum Retries setting.

The reconnect counter and delay reset after the connection has stayed established for at least 30 seconds. Brief connections that drop again retain the accumulated attempt count. Authentication failures, host-key failures, AWS AccessDenied and expired-token errors stop reconnecting immediately and show an error. Exhausting the 10 attempts also shows a final error. Selecting Stop cancels pending reconnects.

Configure¶

1. Edit tunnel, open Advanced Options.
2. Toggle Auto-Reconnect (enabled by default).

Retry vs. Reconnect¶