Disconnect user session automatically

[Thomas Ritter]

John, sure, but our selection criteria is very involved. We have different rules for different groups. From a commercial perspective it is easier and cheaper to have the IPK external.

[John Abbott_2]

> It does depend on your environment.

I think Ian hit it on the head here.

Virtual terminals work great for developers and admin, great for continuing a session from another site.

For users, it just doesn't work for us, their expectations are different;
-some simply close down the telnet session and don't want to ever reconnect
-some users simply just don't understand it, whilst those that do want more... i.e. why doesn't the screen appeare as I left it (CTRL-w is the reply) why when I continue to enter the details in the app does the update fail ('cos you've held the record too long (connected 3 days later)) why doesn't the screen display correctly (80 vs. 132 width).
-we end up with more interactive sessions
-more helpdesk calls
-when apps are updated the installed image goes delete pending, these never free up without intervention - gets a bit large as the months go by.
-they expect a disconnected session to survive a maintenance outage

I also don't like idle killers (operating throughout the day). I'm more interested in the jobs that are stuck in a tight loop!

There's also the risk that users left logged in cause FAC

J.

[Karl Rohwedder]

...
I also don't like idle killers (operating throughout the day). I'm more interested in the jobs that are stuck in a tight loop!
...

We use the DYNPRI utility (from M. Madison) to dynamically adjust process priorities.

regards Kalle

[Ian Miller.]

Some of the reasons why using idle process killers work or dont work in various environments have been outlined. Like many security problems its really a people problem. You educate your users to logout but technology can also be needed to backup the education as people are fallable.

[John Abbott_2]

RE: DYNPRI

I ended up coding my own, but I'll still take a look at this, so thanks !

[Phillip Thayer]

I agree with what Ian and others are saying about depending on the environment your system is running in. It is also important to have users who understand what may happen if you have an IPK running. I had one place I worked at where the users were so uneducated about what was happening I would get calls from users complaining that the system had "crashed" so the restared VMS and everything was o.k. The first time someone called me and said that I almost had a heart attack. Then when I went down to their desk to find out what they did they proceeded to "shutdown and reboot" the VMS system by logging off, turning off the VT monitor, turning on the VT monitor and logging back in. Then they said, "See I shutdown and rebooted the VMS system."

So. if you have users who really don't know what is happening you can create a storm of users calling with things like that.

Phil

[Jan van den Ende]

Edmond, all others:

Much as I do not like IPK, and I am also sensitive to John's arguments, we also have reasons (and I agree with their validity) to do something in this area. Rather crude, but quite satisfying to us.
- As no user is ex[ected to work more than 8 hours a day, we kill any interactive process after 10 hours past logintime. Any user still logged in then is considered to have forgotten to log out.
Since nearly everyone connects via Citrix, just setting aside a session and forgetting it is not uncommon.
(Our two major database applications have their own inactivity handling, and those will be disconnected long before anyhow).
Some of the other apps do not like to have active users during backup, and/or night-time batch processing, so users of these apps are kicked out at that time anyhow.

Of course, occasionally some users DO need to run lengthy processes, sometimes interactively. Those tend to be eigther System Managers or Application Managers, and those occasions are to be planned beforehand anyhow. So, at request, such user is added to an exception list, but only for 24 or 72 hours (weekend). Any longer need, and it will have to be refreshed in time.

-- Maybe not perfect, but it works for us, and the advantages way outweigh the disadvantages.

hth

Proost.

Have one on me.

jpe

[EWONG]

Dear all,

I am very much appreciated your suggestion and valuable information.

Thanks a lot.