Excessive delay at ssh connection to remote host

[James Moe]

local:  OpenSSH_10.5p1, OpenSSL 3.5.3 16 Sep 2025, opensuse tumbleweed
remote: OpenSSH_10.5p1, OpenSSL 3.5.3 16 Sep 2025, opensuse slowroll

About a week ago I posted a help request regarding a timeout when connected to a
remote host. With responses given, I added the following to the local host:
  ServerAliveInterval 60
  ServerAliveCountMax 60
and it resolved the timeout.

The connection to the remote was always oddly delayed about 5 seconds before the
password prompt appeared. Not really an issue although no other host has offered
such a delay.

Now the prompt has extended to roughly 2 minutes, way beyond my attention span.
If I do not notice the delayed password response in a timely manner, I must try
again.

What may cause the further delay for the password prompt?

If I wait too long to login:
2026-09-29T14:37:48-07:00 sma-station12l.sma.com sshd[311449]: Timeout before
authentication for connection from 192.168.69.115 to 192.168.69.109, pid = 439757

If I am fast enough:
2026-09-29T14:41:44-07:00 sma-station12l.sma.com sshd-session[439909]: Accepted
password for sma-user1 from 192.168.69.115 port 40648 ssh2


-- 
James Moe
moe dot james at sohnen-moe dot com
520.743.3936
Think.