Okta Session : How to Set Maximum Session Timeout using APIs

Quite often, an application developer would need a maximum time after which a session should be destroyed irrespective of activity. This is also called the Maximum Session Timeout.

Okta is a popular cloud based Identity and Access Management Platform used as an Identity Provider enabling secure and seamless access to all applications via any device.

As of today, there’s NO setting in the Okta UI to set Maximum Session Time. 

The Session Lifetime setting in the Okta GUI is for Maximum Idle Session Time.

However, there’s an option to do this via APIs using SignOn Policy APIs. 

We can create Policies via APIs or from GUI .. Admin -> Security -> Authentication -> SignOn Policies-> Create Policy -> Create Rules and then update the maxSessionTimeoutInMinutes using API calls as shown in the screenshot.

If you are unaware of how to get started with Okta APIs and/or to setup Postman, please check this link.

Oracle API Gateway (OAG) : Concept & marriage with SOA & Mobile

Oracle API Gateway is a standards-based, policy-driven, standalone software security solution that provides first line of defense in Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) environments.

It enables organizations to securely and rapidly adopt Cloud, Mobile and SOA Services by bridging the gaps and managing the interactions between all relevant systems.

Oracle Web Services Manager(OWSM) is generally used for application security of a particular service,most customers have any use cases around DMZ or Perimeter Security for Web Services. This product serves as a part of the enterprise security solution.

This would be typically for customers needing access to web services from the internet, similar to how we access a web application. OAG can do a  lot of validations
and route the requests only once those checks have passed. This may also be a typical use case for Mobile Applications which use REST Web Services at the backend.

I have seen a strong value in this security product for all SOA and Mobile projects.

Here’s a high-level request flow :

There are many advantages that OAG can provide :

–   Authentication, Authorization (Leverages existing LDAP like AD ; existing IDM platforms for this – RSA AM, CA Site Minder, Oracle Access Mgr)

–   XML Acceleration, Throttling, Caching, Protocol translation (REST to SOAP and vice versa), Dynamic routing, SLA enforcement

–   Identity Propagation and Credential Mapping , Filter threatening content (XML Bombs, DOS Attacks, Virus)

Oracle OEMs (or Original Equipment Manufacturing) the OAG product from AxWay – AxWay’s gateway product is rebranded for Oracle as OAG, and is almost identical.

Quick Demo : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWunxvZnB1A

Oracle  Datasheet