Policy Server Guides › Policy Server Configuration Guide › User Sessions › Windows User Security Context › How Persistent Sessions for User Security Contexts Are Maintained

How Persistent Sessions for User Security Contexts Are Maintained

For the Web Agent to provide a security context for specific resources, you need to enable persistent sessions for all realms that include those resources. Persistent sessions are maintained by the session server.

Note: For conceptual information about persistent sessions, see Persistent and Non-persistent Sessions. For instructions on enabling persistent sessions for a realms protected by Web Agents, see Configure a Realm.

The session server, which resides on the same system as the Policy Server, stores a user's encrypted credentials and associates the user with a session ID. When a SiteMinder session is established between a client and a Web Agent, the Windows user account is established and linked to the session. If the Web Agent's user session cache becomes full and entries are purged, the Agent can retrieve the user's credentials from the session server and re-establish the session. The session server also stores the security context because this context must be propagated across a single sign-on environment.