Increasing the default shell timeout limits for the VMware vCenter Server Appliance

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps to increase the timeout limit for the vCenter Server Appliance. The default timeout value is 15 minutes.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.5.x
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.1.x
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0.x

VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.7

VMware vCenter Server Appliance 7.x

Resolution

Use one of these methods to increase the default timeout limit for the vCenter Server Appliance:

1. To configure the timeout per session, run this command from an SSH session to the bash shell of the vCenter Appliance:
   
   TMOUT=XXXX
   
   where xxxx is the amount of seconds before the session times out.
   
   For example:
   
   TMOUT=1000
   
   Note: This change persists only until the session times out or when the user exits the shell.
   
   To make this change persist even after the user logs out:
   
   
   1. Open the /etc/profile.d/tmout.sh file in a text editor.
      
      Note: The /etc/profile.d/tmout.sh file applies user-specific timeout.
      
      
   2. Edit this line by changing the amount of seconds from the default 900 to the desired timeout limit:
      
      TMOUT=900
      
      
   3. Save and close the file.
   
   To apply the settings system-wide, modify /etc/bash.bashrc and make these changes:
   
   echo "TMOUT=300" >> /etc/bash.bashrc
echo "readonly TMOUT" >> /etc/bash.bashrc
echo "export TMOUT" >> /etc/bash.bashrc
   
   
2. To increase the timeout limit using the Pi shell introduced in vCenter Server appliance, run this command from the Pi Shell:
   
   shell.set --enabled true --timeout XXXX
   
   where XXXX is the amount of time in seconds for the Pi Shell to time out.
   
   For example:
   
   shell.set --enabled true --timeout 3600
   
   This sets the timeout limit to 1 hour (3600 seconds).

Additional Information

To see the current timeout limit, run this command from the bash shell:

echo -n $TMOUT seconds ; echo