This issue is not related to just ubuntu 14.04.

I hit this problem with CentOS 6.4 x86_64 using Foreman 1.6.2

I installed Centos 6.5 minimal install.

Added the SCL/EPEL/Puppetlabs/Foreman repos and updated my yum metadata.

I installed dhcp-server, tftp-server, puppet-server and foreman-installer (with associated dependency packages)

I used the following foreman installation line.

--enable-foreman-compute-libvirt --foreman-db-host localhost --foreman-proxy-dhcp-interface eth1 --foreman-db-type mysql

the installer appeared to complete without error (the error log confirms this)

but the timeout parameter was set to 0. Setting this to a higher number resolved the issue.

I should point out that I hit this issue on a clean install after hitting problems with the ruby "facter hostname" not being able to set/detect the fqdn.

I just did a fresh spinup using the puppet-foreman module and ran into this issue.

OS: 14.04 LTS
Foreman: 1.6.1
Module: puppet-foreman

I included the module and set the one time admin_password var, otherwise no modifications.

idle timeout defaulted to 0 seconds, changing it to 3600 prevented the instant page timeouts.

I just hit the same issue with Ubuntu 14.04 in 1.8 nightlies. The installation took a very long time, but I suspect that's related to API locale changes (https://github.com/theforeman/foreman/commit/a59972c3).

root@foremandeb:~# sudo -H -u foreman /usr/share/foreman/script/foreman-config
foreman-config script is deprecated. Please consider using `foreman-rake config` instead
[deprecated] I18n.enforce_available_locales will default to true in the future. If you really want to skip validation of your locale you can set I18n.enforce_available_locales = false to avoid this message.
Workaround for RbVmomi may not work as ComputeResource is already loaded: ComputeResource
administrator: root@example.com
authorize_login_delegation: false
authorize_login_delegation_api: false
authorize_login_delegation_auth_source_user_autocreate: 
bootdisk_cache_media: true
bootdisk_generic_host_template: Boot disk iPXE - generic host
bootdisk_host_template: Boot disk iPXE - host
bootdisk_ipxe_dir: /usr/lib/ipxe
bootdisk_mkiso_command: genisoimage
bootdisk_syslinux_dir: /usr/lib/syslinux
create_new_host_when_facts_are_uploaded: true
create_new_host_when_report_is_uploaded: true
db_pending_migration: false
db_pending_seed: false
default_location: 
default_organization: 
default_puppet_environment: production
Default_variables_Lookup_Path: ["fqdn","hostgroup","os","domain"]
document_root: /usr/share/foreman/public/puppet/rdoc
email_reply_address: Foreman-noreply@example.com
Enable_Smart_Variables_in_ENC: true
enc_environment: true
entries_per_page: 0
fix_db_cache: false
foreman_url: https://foremandeb.example.com
host_group_matchers_inheritance: true
idle_timeout: 0
ignore_puppet_facts_for_provisioning: false
interpolate_erb_in_parameters: true
legacy_puppet_hostname: false
libvirt_default_console_address: 0.0.0.0
location_fact: foreman_location
login_delegation_logout_url: 
manage_puppetca: true
max_trend: 0
modulepath: /etc/puppet/modules
oauth_active: true
oauth_consumer_key: xUpD4TCCgFTpFNsWFvPT98UMGZyXbhL7
oauth_consumer_secret: Z5uk2tjeRPWRuWJv7UAWj4fJqC3C4hTQ
oauth_map_users: false
organization_fact: foreman_organization
Parametrized_Classes_in_ENC: true
proxy_request_timeout: 0
puppet_interval: 0
puppetrun: false
puppet_server: puppet
query_local_nameservers: false
remote_addr: 127.0.0.1
require_ssl_puppetmasters: true
restrict_registered_puppetmasters: true
root_pass: 
safemode_render: true
send_welcome_email: false
ssl_ca_file: /var/lib/puppet/ssl/certs/ca.pem
ssl_certificate: /var/lib/puppet/ssl/certs/foremandeb.example.com.pem
ssl_client_dn_env: SSL_CLIENT_S_DN
ssl_client_verify_env: SSL_CLIENT_VERIFY
ssl_priv_key: /var/lib/puppet/ssl/private_keys/foremandeb.example.com.pem
token_duration: 0
trusted_puppetmaster_hosts: []
unattended_url: http://foremandeb.example.com
update_environment_from_facts: false
update_ip_from_built_request: false
use_gravatar: true
use_shortname_for_vms: false
use_uuid_for_certificates: false
websockets_encrypt: true
websockets_ssl_cert: /var/lib/puppet/ssl/certs/foremandeb.example.com.pem
websockets_ssl_key: /var/lib/puppet/ssl/private_keys/foremandeb.example.com.pem

Note that all integer settings are zero. The installation was simply with foreman-installer --foreman-admin-password=XXX, default settings otherwise, including PostgreSQL.

I did try accessing the login page towards the end of the installation while it was still installing either bootdisk or foreman_setup.

+1 . issue occurred with a default 14.04 installation with no flags.

happened to me too, consistently running on docker, Foreman 1.6.3
Can't change the idle_timeout from GUI since egg/chicken scenario - can't login, 'session expires' (tried on FF and Chrome).
What's the CLI so I can change the idle_timeout from 0?
the only other option for me is to trace down this field in the PostgreSQL DB and alter it manually

sudo -u foreman /usr/share/foreman/script/foreman-config -k idle_timeout -v 60 should do it.

We're just releasing Foreman 1.7.1 which contains a fix for a similar issue (#7353). There's a possibility that it's the same bug, so if anybody sees this again with foreman-installer 1.7.1, I'd really like to know, just to rule it out.

I just hit the same issue with a fresh CentOS 6 install using Foreman-installer 1.7.2.

Running sudo -u foreman /usr/share/foreman/script/foreman-config -k idle_timeout -v 60 fixed it...