Federation Security Services Guide › Identify Consumers at a SAML 1.x Producer › Set Up Sessions for a SAML Affiliate Agent Consumer (optional) › Configure a Shared Session Model › Set the Sync Interval for Shared Sessions

Set the Sync Interval for Shared Sessions

The sync interval defines the frequency, while the user is active at the consumer, at which the SAML Affiliate Agent contacts the producer to validate session status. (The SAML Affiliate Agent learns the value of the sync interval from the assertion sent by the producer.)

The sync interval ensures that the information at the producer's session server and the information in the SAML Affiliate Agent cookies is synchronized. For example, if the sync interval is 2 minutes and the user logs out at the producer at 4:00PM, the consumer session cookies do not become invalid until 4:02PM.

Note: The SAML Affiliate Agent does not automatically contact the producer based only on the value of the sync interval; the user has to be active at the consumer--that is, the user is requesting consumer resources.

Two considerations affect the value of Sync Interval:

• If the value of Sync Interval is too small, the SAML Affiliate Agent keeps calling the session server, which slows down SiteMinder's performance when processing requests.
• The value must not be larger than 1/2 the lowest Idle Timeout Enabled value that is set for the realm where the user logs in at the producer before going to the SAML Affiliate Agent. The Idle Timeout Enabled field is part of a realm's session configuration parameters.

Note: If the user visits the SAML Affiliate Agent before logging in at the producer, the user is redirected to a URL at the producer. This URL is referred to as the PortalQueryURL.