Increasing the VMware vSphere Web Client session timeout period

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

By default, a VMware vSphere Web Client 5.1 session terminates after 30 minutes of idle time. Since version 5.5 the vSphere Web Client session timeout period was increased to 120 minutes by default.

 

This article provides steps to increase the timeout period for the vSphere Web Client session.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.7.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.5.x

Resolution

To increase the timeout value for the vSphere Web Client:

1. In the computer where the vSphere Web Client is installed, open the webclient.properties file using a text editor.
   
   Note: This file is located at:
   
   vCenter Server 5.x
    
   • Windows 2003 – %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\VMware\vSphere Web Client
   • Windows 2008/2012 – %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\VMware\vSphere Web Client
   • VMware vCenter Server Appliance – /var/lib/vmware/vsphere-client
   
   vCenter Server 6.x
    
   • Windows:
      
     • For Flash-based Web Client - %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vsphere-client
        

     • For HTML5 vSphere Client in vSphere 6.5 - %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vsphere-ui
        

   • vCenter Server Appliance:
      

     • For Flash-based Web Client - /etc/vmware/vsphere-client/

     • For HTML5 vSphere Client in vSphere 6.5 - /etc/vmware/vsphere-ui/

2. Add this line to the webclient.properties file:
   
   Note: If the line already exists, verify that the line does not contain a hash (#).
   
   session.timeout = value
   
   where value is the timeout value in minutes.
   
   For example, to set the timeout value to 150 minutes, add the line:
   
   session.timeout = 150
   
   Note: To set the client to never time out, specify a negative value or 0.
   
    
3. Restart the vSphere Web Client service.
    
   • In Windows vCenter Server 5.x, use services.msc to restart the VMware web client service.

      

   • In vCenter Server Appliance 5.x, run this command:
     
     /etc/init.d/vsphere-client restart
      
   • In Windows vCenter Server 6.x:
      
     • To restart Flash-based Web Client service, run these commands using Command-Prompt:
       
       C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\bin\service-control --stop vspherewebclientsvc
       C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\bin\service-control --start vspherewebclientsvc
        
     • To restart HTML5 vSphere Client service in vSphere 6.5, run these commands using Command-Prompt:
       
       C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\bin\service-control --stop vsphere-ui
       C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\bin\service-control --start vsphere-ui
        
   • In vCenter Server Appliance 6.x:
      
     • To restart Flash-based Web Client service, run these commands:
       
       service-control --stop vsphere-client
       service-control --start vsphere-client
        
     • To restart HTML5 vSphere Client service in vSphere 6.5, run these commands:
       
       service-control --stop vsphere-ui
       service-control --start vsphere-ui