Ambari Web is a client-side JavaScript application, which calls the Ambari REST API (accessible from the Ambari Server) to access cluster information and perform cluster operations. After authenticating to Ambari Web, the application authenticates to the Ambari Server. Communication between the browser and server occurs asynchronously via the REST API.

The Ambari Web UI periodically accesses the Ambari REST API, which resets the session timeout. Therefore, by default, Ambari Web sessions do not timeout automatically. You can configure Ambari to timeout after a period of inactivity. Refer to Ambari Web Inactivity Timeout in the Ambari Security Guide for more information.