Hosting Services Refresher: Timeouts

Did you know there are several different timeout settings in Blackbaud Hosting Services? This is to ensure safety for client databases as well as to control the use of server resources and licenses. These timeout settings include the Blackbaud Hosting Services Web Portal and individual application sessions that are established when launching hosted Blackbaud applications, such as The Raiser’s Edge or The Financial Edge.

Blackbaud Hosting Services Web Portal timeout setting:

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• This is the page users access to launch Citrix User Administration and hosted applications (The Raiser’s Edge, The Financial Edge, etc.), and is determined by the datacenter specific URL.
  
• If a user is idle for 15 minutes they will be logged out of the Web Portal and will need to log back in to launch new application sessions or access User Administration.
  
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  • NOTE: For security reasons, this cannot be extended permanently.
    
  • NOTE: Users may still work in their open hosted application sessions after being logged out of the Blackbaud Hosting Services portal due to inactivity.
    
    
    
  
  
  

Individual Application Session timeout settings:

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• In The Raiser’s Edge if a non-Supervisor user is idle for 15 minutes they will be timed out of the application and will be prompted to re-enter their credentials to resume work. This will not disconnect their application session from the hosted server. This timeout is in place to meet PCI security standards, and only applies to The Raiser’s Edge due to its ability to store credit card and other personal/bank data for constituents.
  
• If a non-Supervisor user is idle for 60 minutes they will be logged out of the application completely. This applies to all hosted applications.
  
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  • NOTE:  Non-Supervisor users in The Raiser’s Edge can remove the timeout setting and only have the 60 minute log out setting by following the steps in the Knowledgebase solution, The Raiser’s Edge in Blackbaud Hosting Services times out after 15 minutes of inactivity.
    
    
    
  • If an RE Supervisor user is idle for 15 minutes they will be timed out of the application and will be prompted to re-enter their credentials to resume work. This will not disconnect their application session from the hosted server.
    
  • If a Supervisor user is idle for 60 minutes they will be logged out completely. This applies to all hosted applications.
    
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    • NOTE: Unlike non-Supervisor Raiser’s Edge users, this cannot be changed for Supervisor users. For more information on how a Supervisor user is defined within The Raiser’s Edge, please see the Knowledgebase solution: The Raiser’s Edge in Blackbaud Hosting Services times out after 15 minutes of inactivity.
      
      
      
    • NOTE: The Individual User Application session can be extended for up to 12 hours on a temporary basis. For more information, please see the Knowledgebase solution, How do I temporarily extend the inactivity timeout for hosted applications in Blackbaud Hosting Services?
      
      
      
    
    
    
  
  
  

A great way to eliminate multiple logins and minimize timeouts is to set up Windows Authentication for your RE and/or EE/FE users. Essentially this ensures that when you click the application icon, the application does not ask you for a second set of credentials. Instead, it authenticates against your Citrix credentials and automatically launches the program. To set this up, users must have an individual Citrix username/password, as well as an individual username/password in the hosted application. This Knowledgebase solution goes over how to do this for both RE and EE/FE: How to allow users to log into an application without entering a password using Windows Authentication in the hosted environment (includes demo)

 

If you have questions, please create a case on Case Central, choose your product, and select the Blackbaud Application Hosting topic or contact our Hosting Support team using our chat feature.
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