SessionTimeout: web.xml vs session.maxInactiveInterval()

Question

I\'m trying to timeout an HttpSession in Java. My container is WebLogic.

Currently, we have our session timeout set in the web.xml file, like this

Answer 1

Now, i'm being told that this will terminate the session (or is it all sessions?) in the 15th minute of use, regardless their activity.

No, that's not true. The session-timeout configures a per session timeout in case of inactivity.

Are these methods equivalent? Should I favour the web.xml config?

The setting in the web.xml is global, it applies to all sessions of a given context. Programatically, you can change this for a particular session.