How to configure a session timeout for Grails application?

In one of controllers in my Grails application I'm preserving a parameter value in a session variable like this:

session.myVariable = params.myValue

After that, I can access the saved value from different controllers/GSP-pages as long as I actively use the app. However, if I don't use my app for a while, even though my browser window is still open, the session variable looses it's value.

Does this happens because the session expires? I was under impression that a session lives until the browser window is still open, but apparently I was wrong.

What should I do to ensure all session variables I define in my Grails app don't expire until the browser is closed? Is there any way to set session timeout manually?

Thank you in advance for your answers!

Another option would be modifying web.xml. Prior you must call

grails install-templates

Then edit src/templates/war/web.xml and add/modify after servlet-mapping:

<session-config>
   <session-timeout>60</session-timeout>
</session-config>

The value of session-timeout uses minutes as unit.

Fast forward a few years... For Grails 3.0 set the session timeout with ServerProperties in the application configuration file.

grails-app/conf/application.yml

server:
   session:
      timeout: 3600  #seconds

Default value: 1800 seconds (30 minutes)

Verify the timeout for the HttpSession from a controller using getMaxInactiveInterval():

log.println "Timeout: ${session.getMaxInactiveInterval()} seconds"

Output --> Timeout: 3600 seconds

Update: Edited configuration for changes in Grails 3.1

The current grails (2.x) have a very odd design approach to setting the session timeout. None of the prevailing ideas are great:

1. comment out "//session Timeout" section the within the WebxmlGrails Plugin and add "sessionConfig.sessionTimeout=" to Config.groovy

2. grails install-templates, remove session-timeout from web.xml, add timeout in WebXmlConfig.groovy

3. wait for a fix. :/

A co-worker came up with the following code that works well for me and will do until a real solution is built into grails core.

Simply add the following to the bottom of your config.groovy file and then set the appropriate timeout.

grails.war.resources = { stagingDir, args ->
  def webXML = new java.io.File("${stagingDir}/WEB-INF/web.xml")
  webXML.text = webXML.text.replaceFirst("<session-timeout>30</session-timeout>", "<session-timeout>90</session-timeout>")
}

My I suggest that the correct solution is to allow a single line in the Config.groovy file:

session.timeout = 90;

Cheers.

With Grails 3.1.x session-timeout is deprecated. The correct property in application.yml is:

server:
    session.timeout: 7200

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Grails uses the sessions associated with your application container. If you're using Tomcat, for example, you can specify the length of a session.

Tutorial for changing Tomcat session length.

here is a better working solution. go you your grails home directory and find Example: E:\grails-2.3.8\src\war\WEB-INF\web3.0.template.xml edit the session time out value to desired values:

Example: enter code here 90

For Grails 3 application, modifying the Application.groovy worked for me:

package foo

import grails.boot.GrailsApp
import grails.boot.config.GrailsAutoConfiguration
import org.apache.catalina.Context
import org.springframework.boot.context.embedded.EmbeddedServletContainerFactory
import org.springframework.boot.context.embedded.tomcat.TomcatContextCustomizer
import org.springframework.boot.context.embedded.tomcat.TomcatEmbeddedServletContainerFactory
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean

class Application extends GrailsAutoConfiguration {

    static void main(String[] args) {
        GrailsApp.run(Application, args)
    }

    @Bean
    EmbeddedServletContainerFactory containerFactory() {
        TomcatEmbeddedServletContainerFactory containerFactory = new TomcatEmbeddedServletContainerFactory()

        containerFactory.addContextCustomizers(new TomcatContextCustomizer() {
            @Override
            void customize(Context context) {
                int oneWeekInMinute = 7 * 24 * 60
                context.setSessionTimeout(oneWeekInMinute)
            }
        });

        return containerFactory
    }

}