Not much else needs to be said… If you manage your box from the shell (which is the proper way to manage a linux server… shape up!) then you need to be using screen. Especially if you are getting ready to kick off some long process and want to make sure you can get back to it if your connection dies out.
You can learn all about it here: http://www.rackaid.com/blog/linux-screen-tutorial-and-how-to/
And for my own quick reference, here is a shortened list of commands:
screen #starts screen…
Then you can use the following keyboard shortcuts:
[ctrl]-a c #create new screen
[ctrl]-a b #bounce to next screen
[ctrl]-a d #deattach screen
Other screen commands:
screen -list #shows all open screens
screen -r #reattach a detached screen