iTP Secure WebServer System Administrator's Guide (Version 7.0)

Administering Session Identifiers for Anonymous
Sessions
iTP Secure WebServer System Administrator’s Guide—523346-012
11-9
Advanced Configuration Options
The Session Identifier Specification 1.0 rounds expiration times to approximately
8.5-minute intervals. The range of expiration times is approximately 8.5 minutes (510
seconds) to 1 year (about 30 million seconds).
Browser Caching
Some browsers support caching mechanisms that the content server can use to
prevent the loss of tickets. The cached information is called a cookie. You can specify
whether you want your server to take advantage of these mechanisms whenever they
are available.
If a Web client supports caching, a Web server can direct the Web client to save
arbitrary information. For ticketing, the content server can direct the Web client to store
a ticket in its cache; then, whenever the Web client sends a request to the server, it
automatically sends the cached information (the ticket).
Caching is particularly valuable if you want to track users across separate sessions.
With caching, a user can exit the Web client or request a resource on a nonticketed
server without losing the ticket.
How Proxy Servers Affect Ticketing
Many Web installations and online services employ a proxy server whose job is to
cache requests and replies for multiple Web users. Caching can increase performance
dramatically for Web users, but it can have some negative effects on tracking and
authentication.