[ARCHIVED] CAS Session Logs Users Out Even While Active

[helen_dvorak]

We are new to Canvas and have run into an issue.  We authenticate with CAS.  Our CAS server is logging users out of Canvas after the 2 hour timeout that is set on our CAS server for inactivity logout.  The users are active in Canvas. Canvas has told us that Canvas does not update the session ticket (TGT) that is initiated at login.  Since the ticket is not updated, the CAS server assumes that the user has been inactive and logs the user out. 

I am interested in how other institutions that are using CAS for authentication purposes are handling this issue.

I know that we can increase the 2 hours to a larger time, but this does not fix the issue if a user is in the system view content and then begins an hour long exam thirty minutes before the time expires.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

Helen

[sethgurell]

We had a similar issue with our CAS system. In working with IT we determined that the best course of action was to separate CAS timeouts from Canvas timeouts. Our CAS now will disconnect after an hour or two of inactivity but users will stay logged into Canvas for up to 24 hours.

[helen_dvorak]

Thank you for your response. Can you provide more details on how you accomplished disconnecting the service so that users remained logged into Canvas even after the CAS?

Thanks,

Helen

[sethgurell]

You'll have to forgive me as I don't work with CAS directly. What I know is the "Single-Logout" protocol was enabled by default in our version of CAS (3.5). Canvas was the only service that had it enabled.

[crafte]

Hi  @helen_dvorak ​, you might get more suggestions from the Canvas Admins​ group.

[kenneth_rogers]

Hi there,  @helen_dvorak !

I wanted to follow up on this question in regards to CAS at your institution. How are things working out for you? Since this question is over a year old, I am going to go ahead and mark it as "Assumed Answered." This won't prevent further dialogue from happening and in the event you're still having an issue, we'd love to hear from you!