[kstrauser]

Configuring OpenSSH's ControlMaster setting here makes an enormous difference. Summary: it keeps a connection open for a while in case you want to connect to the same machine again. If you do, it reuses that connection so the new one is nearly instant.

[Scarbutt]

I'll give it a try, thanks.

[kstrauser]

Examples, starting with a new connection to a server I haven't accessed recently:

  ᐅ time ssh myserver exit
  
  Executed in    1.66 secs

Now visiting it again uses the existing connection:

  ᐅ time ssh mastodon exit
  
  Executed in   55.89 millis

[kstrauser]

(Assume the hostname is identical in both cases. I edited one and not the other. Oops!)