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Changing the User Session Timeout


Published: 27 Dec 2013
Last Modified Date: 24 Aug 2022

Question

How to change the timeout value for Tableau Server user session.

Environment

Tableau Server 

Answer

Option 1

Adjust the idle timeout, where <minutes> is the number of minutes after which the user session will time out.

For Tableau Server on Linux and Tableau Server on Windows 2018.2 and newer: 
 
tsm configuration set -k wgserver.session.idle_limit -v <minutes> 
tsm pending-changes apply 

For Tableau Server on Windows 2018.1 and earlier versions: 

On the computer running Tableau Server, open a command prompt and navigate to the Tableau Server bin folder, located by default at:
C:\Program Files\Tableau\Tableau Server\<version>\bin
 
tabadmin stop 
tabadmin set wgserver.session.idle_limit <minutes> 
tabadmin configure 
tabadmin start

Notes:
  • The default setting for wgserver.session.idle_limit is 240 minutes.
  • Closing the web browser will end the current session regardless of the timeout period, and require signing-in again to access Tableau Server.

Option 2
Adjust the maximum age for sessions, where <minutes> is the number of minutes after which the user session will time out.

For Tableau Server on Linux and Tableau Server on Windows 2018.2 and newer versions: 
tsm configuration set -k wgserver.session.apply_lifetime_limit -v true
tsm configuration set -k wgserver.session.lifetime_limit -v <minutes>
tsm pending-changes apply

For Tableau Server on Windows 2018.1 and older versions: 
tabadmin stop 
wgserver.session.lifetime_limit <minutes> 
tabadmin set wgserver.session.apply_lifetime_limit true 
tabadmin configure 
tabadmin start
Notes: 
  • The setting wgserver.session.apply_lifetime_limit must also be set to "True" for the wgserver.session.lifetime_limit value to take effect.
  • When wgserver .session.appy_lifetime_limit is set to "True" the session will time out if:
    • Session is idle and the wgserver.session.idle_limit is reached, OR
    • Session is not idle, but has reached wgserver.session.lifetime_limit
 
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