Is the Avi(NSX-ALB) Admin portal idle timeout of 15 minutes too short for you? It was for me in my lab so here are some findings while trying to adjust it.
The part that wasn’t clear to me was whether the UI timeout was based on a per-user setting or if it applied to all users of the controller. The configuration is done through the “My Account” section of an admin user with write access. It is set at what appears to be an account level but it actually applies controller-wide for all user accounts. From a security perspective, it makes sense to keep this controlled at a global controller level. Be aware that any System Admin account can adjust this setting and all other System Admins or other users will be held to the Session Timeout setting. I confirmed this by testing with multiple accounts of varying roles, including other System Admin accounts, and the timeout would apply across all accounts. It is a global setting.
Without going in-depth on all account roles a System-Admin role can adjust the timeout, but a Tenant-Admin role cannot. For more info reference the Avi documentation.
*Please be sure to consider any security requirements you may have before adjusting the timeout in your environment.
Adjusting Avi Admin Idle Timeout
The screenshots are from Avi 21.1.2 and the local System-Admin account was used.
While logged into the Avi controller click on the Avi icon (1) in the upper right corner and select My Account (2).
From here locate the Session Timeout found under Controller Settings and adjust to your desired time frame, in minutes. The maximum allowed is 1440 minutes (24hrs). Below I changed the default 15 min to 60 min. Click Save to finish.
That’s it. Thanks for reading.