Concurrent users screen – ending sessions

The Concurrent users screen is accessible from:

  • the email that advises that the System administrator that the licence level has been exceeded, but if you are not already logged in you will have to log in and then use the Manage current sessions link provided.  You can be logged in to access this screen, even if all licences are in use.
  • the login screen Manage current sessions link, when all licences for the system, or all sessions for the logged on user, are in use but only for system administrators. Supervisors and lower level users see a version of this screen that only allows them to manage their own sessions.
  • and for Supervisors and above, via the staff interface header bar at System>Concurrent users.

The Concurrent users screen shows the sessions currently being managed by the system. Each session has a unique session id number that is shown on this screen (and is also shown in the System log).

The Login column records the type of login that was used:

  • Standard – means they came in through the normal 998 login screen.
  • Automatic – means the user was automatically logged in as a result of a stored cookie
  • SAML – mean they were identified using SSO SAML
  • OIDC – means they were identified using SSO OIDC

If you need to end a session to allow another user in, the session with the longest “Last activity” time is the best candidate to have their session ended. Inactivity of more than 1 hour is shown in a highlighted colour. The “Elapsed” column shows the time that this user has been logged into this session, and the “Last page” column shows the last RefTracker page number used by that signed on user (which can be helpful in distinguishing between a user’s sessions).

This screen is viewable by both supervisors and administrators. Administrators can end anyone’s session and will always be able to get to this screen even if all licences are in use and all their own sessions are in use.

Supervisors can end their own session and sessions of users at levels lower than Supervisor.

A variant of this screen is accessible from the login screen of users who have exceeded their concurrent session count, and for Supervisors and above, when the system licence count has been exceeded.  In that version of the screen, lower level users are able to end only their own sessions.  It is a highly useful screen as it allows them to end their own sessions – usually because their sessions have been lost due to Internet disconnect or accidental closing of a browser window running RefTracker.

To end a session, check the tick box/es next to the session/s to be ended, and click the End session/s button.

A legend at the top of the screen indicates the status of each entry in this screen:

Logged innext to a user name indicates this user is currently logged into the system.
Locked This symbol indicates that this user is currently locked out because they provided too many incorrect passwords or have not validated their email address (they can be unlocked by the [unlock] link).

Identified  next to a user name indicates this is a user who has attempted to log on but was rejected and may be waiting for a licence to become available so they can log in.
Client  next to a user name indicates this is a client level user. Clients do not log in and so are not identified, but their IP address is shown in brackets next to their Location.
Ended by administrator  next to a user name indicates that this is a session that has been ended by a System Administrator. The listing will disappear when the session actually disappears which will be at the end of the Login timeout period set by parameter 2.3.