How do you configure session timeouts in Spring Boot?

Table of Contents

• Introduction
  • 1. Configuring Session Timeout in **application.properties**
    • Example: Setting Session Timeout in application.properties
  • 2. Configuring Session Timeout with Spring Security
    • Example: Configuring Session Timeout in Spring Security
  • 3. Customizing Session Timeout in a Spring Boot Application
    • Example: Custom Session Timeout Handling
  • 4. Setting Session Timeout in **application.yml**
  • 5. Handling Session Timeout with Custom Redirects
    • Example: Redirecting to a Custom Session Expired Page
  • 6. Session Timeout and Spring Session (Distributed Sessions)
    • Example: Spring Session Timeout with Redis
• Conclusion

Introduction

In web applications, managing session timeouts is essential for security and performance. Session timeouts prevent sessions from lingering indefinitely, ensuring that idle users are logged out after a specified period of inactivity. Spring Boot provides several ways to configure session timeouts, allowing developers to define how long a session should remain active.

This guide explains the different ways you can configure session timeouts in Spring Boot, covering configuration in application.properties, Spring Security, and custom session management solutions.

1. Configuring Session Timeout in **application.properties**

Spring Boot provides an easy way to configure session timeout directly through the **application.properties** (or application.yml) file. You can define the maximum inactive interval for sessions, meaning the time period after which the session will be invalidated due to inactivity.

Example: Setting Session Timeout in application.properties

In this example:

• **server.servlet.session.timeout** defines the maximum inactive period for HTTP sessions.
• **30m** specifies a 30-minute timeout.

You can also use time units like:

• s for seconds (e.g., 60s for 60 seconds).
• m for minutes (e.g., 30m for 30 minutes).
• h for hours (e.g., 1h for 1 hour).

2. Configuring Session Timeout with Spring Security

In Spring Security, session timeout settings can be configured to integrate with Spring Boot's session management. You can define the session timeout, enforce session expiration, and manage session behaviors such as invalidation on logout.

Example: Configuring Session Timeout in Spring Security

To set session timeouts in Spring Security, you typically define them in a WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter configuration class.

In this configuration:

• **invalidSessionUrl("/session-invalid")**: Redirects the user to a custom page if the session is invalidated or expired.
• **expiredUrl("/session-expired")**: Redirects the user when their session expires.
• **maximumSessions(1)**: Limits the user to only one concurrent session, and other sessions are invalidated when a new one is created.

3. Customizing Session Timeout in a Spring Boot Application

Sometimes, you may need more fine-grained control over session timeouts or want to handle session timeout events programmatically. You can achieve this by using the **HttpSession** API and **@EventListener** annotations.

Example: Custom Session Timeout Handling

You can configure a session timeout programmatically by listening for session events and manually managing the session's expiration:

Additionally, if you want to modify the timeout behavior dynamically, you can use a custom **Filter** or **HttpSessionListener** to modify session timeouts based on conditions or specific endpoints.

4. Setting Session Timeout in **application.yml**

If you prefer to use application.yml for configuration in your Spring Boot application, you can define the session timeout as follows:

This configuration works the same as in application.properties but uses YAML syntax, which is often preferred for its readability in Spring Boot applications.

5. Handling Session Timeout with Custom Redirects

It's important to customize the user experience during session timeouts. You can configure a specific page that users are redirected to when their session expires or becomes invalid. This could be a login page, an error page, or a custom session-expired page.

Example: Redirecting to a Custom Session Expired Page

In **application.properties** or **application.yml**, you can specify the session expiration behavior:

And in the Spring Security configuration:

In this example:

• When the session expires, the user is redirected to /session-expired. You can customize this page to inform the user that their session has expired and prompt them to log in again.

6. Session Timeout and Spring Session (Distributed Sessions)

If your application uses Spring Session (for distributed session management with Redis, JDBC, etc.), you can configure session timeout and expiration settings in a similar way. Spring Session will manage the session persistence across multiple instances or clusters.

Example: Spring Session Timeout with Redis

In application.properties, you can configure Spring Session with Redis and set a session timeout as follows:

This ensures that session data is stored in Redis, and the session timeout is managed across all instances of the application.

Conclusion

Configuring session timeouts in Spring Boot is a crucial part of securing your web application. By setting an appropriate session timeout, you can:

• Prevent session hijacking by automatically logging out idle users.
• Improve security by limiting the time available for an attacker to exploit an inactive session.
• Enhance user experience by managing session expiration and providing informative redirects.

Spring Boot provides various ways to configure session timeouts, including settings in application.properties, Spring Security configuration, and using custom logic. By combining these approaches, you can manage session timeouts effectively and securely in your Spring Boot applications.