Configure user session persistence

With the persistent session state feature, portal users can resume and continue a previously interrupted working session at the same state where they left the session. When the user logs out or the session times out, the portal stores the current navigational state into the database. The administrator can give users the option to resume the navigational state of their last session when logging in again. When the user chooses to resume the last session, the navigational state stored previously is restored, and the user can continue working where the user stopped before.

Example: A user logs in and maximizes some portlets. Afterwards the user logs out. When the user logs in again, all of the previously maximized portlets are still maximized.

Note: Only the server side aggregation (SSA) rendering mode supports user session persistence to the full extent. Do not use the session persistence feature in combination with the client side aggregation (CSA) rendering mode of the Page Builder theme. If you use the session persistence feature with CSA, users will not have a consistent experience as to when and whether their session is persisted or not. CSA reduces the amount of data sent between the client and the server. Therefore the current navigational state of the user session is synchronized with the server only by specific user actions and is not persisted and restored by the server continuously.

Session settings stored by the portal

After a user logs out or the session times out, the portal stores the complete navigational state into the database.

Resuming the session state is only possible if either the portal theme login link or WebSphere Application Server TAI based authentication is used to login to the portal. Whenever a URL is directly used to login or address a resource, this will overwrite the complete session state that is to be resumed and address the named resource with the default states and modes for its portlets. For example, this occurs when users use ../wps/myportal/ or ../wps/myportal/name/ for a URL mapping or friendly name

User option during login

If the portal administrator has enabled the resume option for users, the login page displays a check box Resume last session. If the user selects this check box, the previous session is resumed. Otherwise the previous session is not resumed and the user starts as if logging in for the first time.

How administrators define persistent session options

Administrators can configure the persistent session behavior by setting the following properties:

Administrators set these properties in Configuration Service.

Give users the resume option

Portal administrators can define whether users have the option to resume their last session during login. They do this by setting the property persistent.session.option in the Configuration Service. They can configure the property to one of two settings: 0 or 1.

The two persistent session option values have the following effects:

persistent.session.option = 0:

persistent.session.option = 1:

The default setting is 0, that is, users have no option to resume their last session.

The defined session preservation settings as described under Set the session resume level for users are in effect, independent of whether the administrator has given users the resume option.

If you give users the resume option, you should set the session resume level to 1 or higher. Otherwise the persistent.session.option property has no effect.

Set the session resume level for users

The session resume level specifies which navigational state information should be resumed (if any) when the respective user logs in again. Portal administrators can configure the session resume level by setting the property...

.in Configuration Service.

We can configure the property to one of three predefined values:

The user to benefit from the setting, give users the resume option as described under Give users the resume option . However, the defined setting is in effect, independent of whether you give users the resume option.

The four persistent session level values have the following effects:

persistent.session.level = 0:

persistent.session.level = 1:

persistent.session.level = 2:

persistent.session.level = 3:

The default setting is 0, that is, no persistent session state is stored or restored.

The following table gives an overview of the settings and their effect on the user session when the user logs back in to the portal:

    Session persistence level
  Navigational state 0 1 2 3
Portlet states Normal, minimized, maximized --- Restored Restored ---
Portlet modes configure, edit_defaults, edit, view, help --- Restored Restored ---
Pages The last active page before the user logged out --- --- Restored ---

Parent: Configure portal behavior


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