vSphere Disable Timeout

KB ID 0001118 

Problem

One annoying thing about the vSphere web client is the fact it throws you out after a period of inactivity. Now I know there are straight forward security reasons for this, and on a production environment thats fine. But on my test network theres just me, sighing every few minutes and logging back in again.

As the ‘Flash’ client is getting depreciated I’ll concentrate on the HTML5 client, but I’ll mention how to alter the flash client also. (If your version of VCSA still supports it!_

vSphere Disable Timeout

vCenter Appliance (VCSA) vSphere Disable Timeout

Connect directly to the console or via SSH. to launch a BASH type ‘shell‘, then execute the following commands

cd /etc/vmware/
ls

SSH to vCenter

 

You will see a folder for vsphere-ui (the HTML5 client) 

vCenter Disable Timeout VCSA

Note: For older versions of the VCSA, you will also see vsphere-client (the legacy Flash client).

vSphere HTML5 CLient properties

Change directory to the client you want to alter the settings for, then edit the web client-properties file.

cd vsphere-ui
vi webclient.properties

vCenter Disable Timeout web

Locate the ‘session.timeout = 120′ value and change it to zero ‘0’ to disable, (or a new figure in minutes).

vCenter Disable Timeout threshold

Note: Navigate with the arrow keys  > press ‘I’ to insert >  change the text  > press ‘Esc’ >  type ‘:wq’ to save and exit.

Then restart the HTML5 client with the following commands’

service-control --stop vsphere-ui
service-control --start vsphere-ui

vCenter Disable Timeout Managment

vCenter on Windows Web Client vSphere Disable Timeout

First you need to edit the config file for the web client > Windows Key + R > “%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\VMware\vSphere Web Client”

vSphere Web Client Settings

Locate the session.timeout value and change it to 0 (zero)  > Save and exit the file.

Edit Web Client Timeout

Finally restart the service. Windows Key +R > services.msc > Locate and restart the VMware vSphere Web Client service.

Restart vCenter web client service

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

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Author: PeteLong

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2 Comments

  1. “sighing every few minutes and logging back in again”
    So. painfully. true. thank you.

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  2. Awesome!
    Just an FYI VMWare recommends to restart the service for the Appliance also

    •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

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