Cognos session timeout

If Cognos reports are loading slowly or failing to load without first refreshing the page, the session might have exceeded the set inactivity timeout period. Increasing the inactivity timeout period might help to alleviate this issue.

The default inactivity timeout setting for Cognos is 60 minutes (3600 seconds). You can modify this setting by editing the cogstartup.xml. The cogstartup.xml is located in the following directories:

Stand-alone server
app_server_root/cognos/configuration/cogstartup.xml
Additional stand-alone server or cluster
profile_root/cognos/server_name/configuration/cogstartup.xml

The cogstartup.xml contains the following code:

  <crn:parameter name="AAA" opaque="true">
    <crn:value>
      <!-- inactivityTimeout: Specifies the maximum number of seconds that a user's session 
           can remain inactive before they must re-authenticate.  -->
      <!-- Use this property to automatically log off the user after a set period of inactivity. 
           Ensure that the period is appropriate for both security and convenience considerations.  -->
      <crn:parameter name="inactivityTimeout">
        <crn:value xsi:type="xsd:positiveInteger">3600</crn:value>
      </crn:parameter>

Locate the inactivityTimeout parameter and the corresponding value of 3600 seconds. Here you can modify the inactivityTimeout value in seconds. After you save changes to the file, you must restart the related server.