diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 27a2707..1fac0c5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ VSCode server available at http://localhost:8898/
 Connection is up and running
 Enter "r" (or "reconnect") to reconnect the session (for example after suspend)
 Ctrl-C (or "quit") to abort (remote session remains active)
-or "Shutdown" to shutdown remote interactive session
+or "Shutdown" to shut down remote interactive session
 ```
 
 Click on the JupyterLab link (http://localhost:8878/?token=xyz)
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ It will shut down the remote session, free the resource and close the CLI
 ``` console
 Enter "r" (or "reconnect") to reconnect the session (for example after suspend)
 Ctrl-C (or "quit") to abort (remote session remains active)
-or "Shutdown" to shutdown remote interactive session
+or "Shutdown" to shut down remote interactive session
 
 shutdown
 
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ clearml-session --help
 ``` console
 clearml-session - CLI for launching JupyterLab / VSCode on a remote machine
 usage: clearml-session [-h] [--version] [--attach [ATTACH]]
-                       [--shutdown [SHUTDOWN]]
+                       [--shutdown [SHUTDOWN]] [--interactive]
                        [--debugging-session DEBUGGING_SESSION] [--queue QUEUE]
                        [--docker DOCKER] [--docker-args DOCKER_ARGS]
                        [--public-ip [true/false]]
@@ -249,8 +249,9 @@ optional arguments:
   --attach [ATTACH]     Attach to running interactive session (default:
                         previous session)
   --shutdown [SHUTDOWN], -S [SHUTDOWN]
-                        Shut down an active session (default: previous
-                        session)
+                        Shut down an active session (default: previous session)
+  --interactive, -I     open the SSH session directly, notice quiting the SSH session will 
+                        Not shutdown the remote session                        
   --debugging-session DEBUGGING_SESSION
                         Pass existing Task id (experiment), create a copy of
                         the experiment on a remote machine, and launch
diff --git a/clearml_session/__main__.py b/clearml_session/__main__.py
index 28d586a..9356b1f 100644
--- a/clearml_session/__main__.py
+++ b/clearml_session/__main__.py
@@ -481,6 +481,7 @@ def load_state(state_file):
     # never reload --verbose and --yes states
     state.pop('verbose', None)
     state.pop('yes', None)
+    state.pop('interactive', None)
     return state
 
 
@@ -753,10 +754,26 @@ def start_ssh_tunnel(username, remote_address, ssh_port, ssh_password, local_rem
         child.terminate(force=True)
         child = None
     print('\n')
+    child.logfile = None
     return child, ssh_password
 
 
 def monitor_ssh_tunnel(state, task):
+    def interactive_ssh(p):
+        import struct, fcntl, termios, signal, sys  # noqa
+
+        def sigwinch_passthrough(sig, data):
+            s = struct.pack("HHHH", 0, 0, 0, 0)
+            a = struct.unpack('hhhh', fcntl.ioctl(sys.stdout.fileno(), termios.TIOCGWINSZ, s))
+            if not p.closed:
+                p.setwinsize(a[0], a[1])
+
+        print("Switching to active SSH session, press ``Ctrl - ]`` to leave")
+        # Note this 'p' is global and used in sigwinch_passthrough.
+        signal.signal(signal.SIGWINCH, sigwinch_passthrough)
+        p.interact()
+        print("\nSSH session running in background\n")
+
     print('Setting up connection to remote session')
     local_jupyter_port, local_jupyter_port_, local_ssh_port, local_ssh_port_, local_vscode_port, local_vscode_port_ = \
         _get_available_ports([8878, 8878+1,  8022, 8022+1, 8898, 8898+1])
@@ -780,9 +797,18 @@ def monitor_ssh_tunnel(state, task):
 
     default_section = _get_config_section_name()[0]
     local_remote_pair_list = []
+    shutdown = False
     try:
         while task.get_status() == 'in_progress':
-            if not all([ssh_port, jupyter_token, jupyter_port, internal_ssh_port, ssh_password, remote_address]):
+            if not all([
+                ssh_port,
+                not state.get('jupyter_lab') or jupyter_token,
+                not state.get('jupyter_lab') or jupyter_port,
+                not state.get('vscode_server') or vscode_port,
+                internal_ssh_port,
+                ssh_password,
+                remote_address
+            ]):
                 task.reload()
                 task_parameters = task.get_parameters()
                 if Session.check_min_api_version("2.13"):
@@ -859,8 +885,9 @@ def monitor_ssh_tunnel(state, task):
 
                     print('\nConnection is up and running\n'
                           'Enter \"r\" (or \"reconnect\") to reconnect the session (for example after suspend)\n'
-                          'Ctrl-C (or "quit") to abort (remote session remains active)\n'
-                          'or \"Shutdown\" to shutdown remote interactive session')
+                          '`i` (or "interactive") to connect to the SSH session\n'
+                          '`Ctrl-C` (or "quit") to abort (remote session remains active)\n'
+                          'or \"Shutdown\" to shut down remote interactive session')
                 else:
                     logging.getLogger().warning('SSH tunneling failed, retrying in {} seconds'.format(3))
                     sleep(3.)
@@ -868,6 +895,12 @@ def monitor_ssh_tunnel(state, task):
 
             connect_state['reconnect'] = False
 
+            # if interactive start with SSH interactive
+            if state.pop('interactive', None):
+                interactive_ssh(ssh_process)
+                # if we are in --interactive, when we leave the session we should leave the process
+                break
+
             # wait for user input
             user_input = _read_std_input(timeout=sleep_period)
             if user_input is None:
@@ -885,9 +918,13 @@ def monitor_ssh_tunnel(state, task):
                     pass
                 continue
 
-            if user_input.lower() == 'shutdown':
+            if user_input.lower() in ('i', 'interactive',):
+                interactive_ssh(ssh_process)
+                continue
+            elif user_input.lower() == 'shutdown':
                 print('Shutting down interactive session')
                 task.mark_stopped()
+                shutdown = True
                 break
             elif user_input.lower() in ('r', 'reconnect', ):
                 print('Reconnecting to interactive session')
@@ -901,7 +938,7 @@ def monitor_ssh_tunnel(state, task):
             else:
                 print('unknown command: \'{}\''.format(user_input))
 
-        print('Interactive session ended')
+        print("Remote session shutdown" if shutdown else "Remote session still running!")
     except KeyboardInterrupt:
         print('\nUser aborted')
 
@@ -925,6 +962,9 @@ def setup_parser(parser):
                         help='Attach to running interactive session (default: previous session)')
     parser.add_argument("--shutdown", "-S", default=None, const="", nargs="?",
                         help="Shut down an active session (default: previous session)")
+    parser.add_argument("--interactive", "-I", action='store_true', default=None,
+                        help="open the SSH session directly, notice quiting the SSH session "
+                             "will Not shutdown the remote session")
     parser.add_argument('--debugging-session', type=str, default=None,
                         help='Pass existing Task id (experiment), create a copy of the experiment on a remote machine, '
                              'and launch jupyter/ssh for interactive access. Example --debugging-session <task_id>')
@@ -1048,6 +1088,8 @@ def cli():
     if args.verbose:
         state['verbose'] = args.verbose
 
+    state['interactive'] = bool(args.interactive)
+
     client = APIClient()
 
     if args.shutdown is not None:
@@ -1107,7 +1149,7 @@ def cli():
     monitor_ssh_tunnel(state, task)
 
     # we are done
-    print('Leaving interactive session')
+    print('Goodbye')
 
 
 def _get_previous_session(
diff --git a/clearml_session/interactive_session_task.py b/clearml_session/interactive_session_task.py
index f3de9a7..9bb82cb 100644
--- a/clearml_session/interactive_session_task.py
+++ b/clearml_session/interactive_session_task.py
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ def monitor_jupyter_server(fd, local_filename, process, task, jupyter_port, host
         pass
 
 
-def start_vscode_server(hostname, hostnames, param, task, env):
+def start_vscode_server(hostname, hostnames, param, task, env, bind_ip="127.0.0.1"):
     if not param.get("vscode_server"):
         return
 
@@ -368,7 +368,7 @@ def start_vscode_server(hostname, hostnames, param, task, env):
                     "--auth",
                     "none",
                     "--bind-addr",
-                    "127.0.0.1:{}".format(port),
+                    "{}:{}".format(bind_ip, port),
                     "--user-data-dir", user_folder,
                     "--extensions-dir", exts_folder,
                 ] + vscode_extensions_cmd,
@@ -401,8 +401,8 @@ def start_vscode_server(hostname, hostnames, param, task, env):
 
         proc = subprocess.Popen(
             ['bash', '-c',
-             '{} --auth none --bind-addr 127.0.0.1:{} --disable-update-check {} {}'.format(
-                 vscode_path, port,
+             '{} --auth none --bind-addr {}:{} --disable-update-check {} {}'.format(
+                 vscode_path, bind_ip, port,
                  '--user-data-dir \"{}\"'.format(user_folder) if user_folder else '',
                  '--extensions-dir \"{}\"'.format(exts_folder) if exts_folder else '')],
             env=env,
@@ -425,7 +425,7 @@ def start_vscode_server(hostname, hostnames, param, task, env):
     task.set_parameter(name='properties/vscode_port', value=str(port))
 
 
-def start_jupyter_server(hostname, hostnames, param, task, env):
+def start_jupyter_server(hostname, hostnames, param, task, env, bind_ip="127.0.0.1"):
     if not param.get('jupyterlab', True):
         print('no jupyterlab to monitor - going to sleep')
         while True:
@@ -467,7 +467,7 @@ def start_jupyter_server(hostname, hostnames, param, task, env):
             "--no-browser",
             "--allow-root",
             "--ip",
-            "127.0.0.1",
+            bind_ip,
             "--port",
             str(port),
         ],