Add docs for web_idle_timeout

[ravicious]

Preview

We got a ticket from a customer who asked if it's possible to increase the timeout in Cloud.

It's not easy to figure this out since the idle timeout is not mentioned explicitly anywhere, other than in the config reference. And even if you find it there, then you need to know that that part of auth service config maps to cluster_networking_config in Cloud. On top of that, editing cluster_networking_config in Cloud clusters used to not work, but this has been fixed a while ago (#18829).

I added tabs for dynamic and static config which I copied from the Okta SSO guide. I know we want to remove them from how-to guides (#38931), but I think they're fine here? It feels important to show how it can be done in both environments. Let me know if I should replace the tabs with something else.

The docs are based on the relevant piece of code in the Web UI:

teleport/web/packages/teleport/src/components/Authenticated/Authenticated.tsx

Lines 116 to 155 in dd33d8d

	function startActivityChecker(ttl = 0) {
	// adjustedTtl slightly improves accuracy of inactivity time.
	// This will at most cause user to log out ACTIVITY_CHECKER_INTERVAL_MS early.
	// NOTE: Because of browser js throttling on inactive tabs, expiry timeout may
	// still be extended up to over a minute.
	const adjustedTtl = ttl - ACTIVITY_CHECKER_INTERVAL_MS;
	// See if there is inactive date already set in local storage.
	// This is to check for idle timeout reached while app was closed
	// ie. browser still openend but all app tabs closed.
	if (isInactive(adjustedTtl)) {
	logger.warn('inactive session');
	session.logout();
	return;
	}
	// Initialize or renew the storage before starting interval.
	storageService.setLastActive(Date.now());
	const intervalId = setInterval(() => {
	if (isInactive(adjustedTtl)) {
	logger.warn('inactive session');
	session.logout();
	}
	}, ACTIVITY_CHECKER_INTERVAL_MS);
	const throttled = throttle(() => {
	storageService.setLastActive(Date.now());
	}, ACTIVITY_EVENT_DELAY_MS);
	events.forEach(event => window.addEventListener(event, throttled));
	function stop() {
	throttled.cancel();
	clearInterval(intervalId);
	events.forEach(event => window.removeEventListener(event, throttled));
	}
	return stop;
	}

teleport/web/packages/teleport/src/components/Authenticated/Authenticated.tsx

Lines 37 to 47 in dd33d8d

	const events = [
	// Fired from any keyboard key press.
	'keydown',
	// Fired when a pointer (cursor, pen/stylus, touch) changes coordinates.
	// This also handles mouse scrolling. It's unlikely a user will keep their
	// mouse still when scrolling.
	'pointermove',
	// Fired when a pointer (cursor, pen/stylus, touch) becomes active button
	// states (ie: mouse clicks or pen/finger has physical contact with touch enabled screen).
	'pointerdown',
	];

Related issues:

• Add clarity to client_idle_timeout documentation #32855

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[ptgott]

The "Connect your Client" docs are intended for end users instead of admins. Is it possible to rephrase the change to target end users? E.g., we could tell them to have an admin change web_idle_timeout.

Ideally, there would be a reference we could link to from here that explains the fields of cluster_networking_config for admins, but there doesn't seem to be one. I can open an issue so we can add this.

[ravicious]

The "Connect your Client" docs are intended for end users instead of admins. Is it possible to rephrase the change to target end users? E.g., we could tell them to have an admin change web_idle_timeout.

Ah, sure, I wasn't aware of that. AFAIK that's the only page dedicated to Web UI, so I didn't even consider putting this anywhere else. I'll adjust the copy a little bit.

Ideally, there would be a reference we could link to from here that explains the fields of cluster_networking_config for admins, but there doesn't seem to be one. I can open an issue so we can add this.

I'd appreciate that, thanks.

[ptgott]

Added: #42233
I've also approved the PR

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