Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops

Dynamic session timeouts

This feature lets you configure disconnected and idle session timeouts for your peak and off-peak usage times to achieve faster machine draining and cost savings. This feature applies to:

  • Single-session and multi-session OS machines.
  • All machines in the Delivery Group regardless of whether they are tagged for autoscaling.

A VDA reports idle times for sessions that have been idle for more than 10 minutes, so dynamic session timeouts are not able to disconnect idle sessions within 10 minutes of being idle. A lesser value removes lingering sessions sooner, thus reducing costs.

Autoscale multi-session OS - dynamic session timeout

Note:

  • This feature is always available for multi-session OS delivery groups.
  • For single-session OS delivery groups, this feature applies to VDAs of version 2206 CR or later, or 2203 LTSR CU3 or later. Ensure that those VDAs have registered with Citrix Cloud at least once. When unavailable, the following user interface appears:

Dynamic session timeout unavailable

  • Autoscale dynamic timeouts are for cost savings. If used for security purposes, the configured timeouts might conflict with your GPO or Manage console policies. When a conflict occurs, the shorter timeout prevails.

Idle session timeout. Enables or disables a timer that specifies how long an uninterrupted user connection is maintained if there is no user input. When the timer expires, the session is placed in the disconnected state and the Disconnected session timeout applies. If the Disconnected session timeout is disabled, the session is not logged off.

Important:

  • If you specify a value less than or equal to 10 minutes (600 seconds), Autoscale disconnects the relevant sessions after they have been idle for 10 minutes. This is because Autoscale relies on session idle times that VDAs report. VDAs report idle times only for sessions that have been idle for more than 10 minutes.
  • An idle session can still be placed into a disconnected state if the user interacts with it within the last 5 minutes of reaching the idle session timeout.

Disconnected session timeout. Enables or disables a timer that specifies how long a disconnected desktop remains locked before the session is logged off. If enabled, the disconnected session is logged off when the timer expires.

FAQ

Does the dynamic session timeout feature apply only to machines tagged for Autoscaling?

The dynamic session timeout feature applies to all the machines in the Delivery group, regardless of whether they are tagged for autoscaling.

When a session is logged off due to dynamic session timeout, are untagged machines also included in the Autoscale target of tagged machines?

The dynamic session timeout feature is not related to the Autoscale tagging feature. If dynamic session timeouts result in sessions being terminated, untagged machines might also be shut down during the process provided the machines are draining until shut down.

Dynamic session timeouts

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