Brocade Web Tools Administrator's Guide (53-0000194-01, November 2006)

Web Tools Administrator’s Guide 1-13
Publication Number: 53-0000194-01
1
Session Management
A “Web Tools session” is defined as the connection between the Web Tools client and its managed
switch.
A session is established when you log in to a switch through Web Tools. A single session is shared by
the Switch Explorer and all child windows launched from it. Closing or navigating away from the
Switch Explorer ends the session and invalidates all related child windows; closing the child windows,
however, does not end the session.
A session remains in effect until one of the following happens:
• You log out.
• You close or navigate away from the Switch Explorer window.
• You refresh the Switch Explorer window.
• The session times out due to inactivity.
A session automatically times out if it has been inactive for longer than two hours. The session timeout
is a configurable parameter. Inactivity does not mean “no user activity” (such as keystrokes or mouse
movements); it means “no information sent to the switch” (by clicking Apply or Save buttons).
For example, in the Zoning module you can spend a lot of time setting up a zoning scheme without
actually sending information to the switch. Web Tools does not display a warning when the session is
about to time out. If the session times out, you must restart Web Tools and log in again.
Web Tools enables sessions to both secure and nonsecure switches.
Access rights for your session are determined by your role-based access rights and by the contents of
your selected Admin Domain. After you log in, you can change to a different Admin Domain at any
time; however, you cannot change your role-based permissions.
Logging In
When you use Web Tools, you must log in before you can view or modify any switch information. This
section describes the login process.
Prior to displaying the login window, Web Tools displays a security banner (if one is configured for
your switch), which you must accept before logging in. The security banner displays every time you
access the switch.
When you are presented with the login screen you must provide a user name and a password. Your
home Admin Domain is automatically selected. You can optionally specify an Admin Domain other
than your home domain.
Upon successful login, you are logged in to the specified Admin Domain.
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You must log in before you can view the Switch Explorer (shown in Figure 1-5 on page 1-9).