diff --git a/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/context/embedded/AbstractConfigurableEmbeddedServletContainer.java b/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/context/embedded/AbstractConfigurableEmbeddedServletContainer.java
index f341ffd2c4..e29af11a8b 100644
--- a/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/context/embedded/AbstractConfigurableEmbeddedServletContainer.java
+++ b/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/context/embedded/AbstractConfigurableEmbeddedServletContainer.java
@@ -37,6 +37,9 @@ import org.springframework.util.Assert;
 public abstract class AbstractConfigurableEmbeddedServletContainer implements
 		ConfigurableEmbeddedServletContainer {
 
+	private static final int DEFAULT_SESSION_TIMEOUT = (int) TimeUnit.SECONDS
+			.toMinutes(30);
+
 	private String contextPath = "";
 
 	private boolean registerDefaultServlet = true;
@@ -57,7 +60,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractConfigurableEmbeddedServletContainer implements
 
 	private InetAddress address;
 
-	private int sessionTimeout;
+	private int sessionTimeout = DEFAULT_SESSION_TIMEOUT;
 
 	private Ssl ssl;
 
diff --git a/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/context/embedded/ConfigurableEmbeddedServletContainer.java b/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/context/embedded/ConfigurableEmbeddedServletContainer.java
index ff06841579..21531ad0bf 100644
--- a/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/context/embedded/ConfigurableEmbeddedServletContainer.java
+++ b/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/context/embedded/ConfigurableEmbeddedServletContainer.java
@@ -49,8 +49,8 @@ public interface ConfigurableEmbeddedServletContainer {
 	void setPort(int port);
 
 	/**
-	 * The session timeout in seconds (default 30). If 0 or negative then sessions never
-	 * expire.
+	 * The session timeout in seconds (default 30 minutes). If 0 or negative then sessions
+	 * never expire.
 	 * @param sessionTimeout the session timeout
 	 */
 	void setSessionTimeout(int sessionTimeout);
diff --git a/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/context/embedded/jetty/JettyEmbeddedServletContainerFactory.java b/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/context/embedded/jetty/JettyEmbeddedServletContainerFactory.java
index ae96d19186..06f18a89f7 100644
--- a/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/context/embedded/jetty/JettyEmbeddedServletContainerFactory.java
+++ b/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/context/embedded/jetty/JettyEmbeddedServletContainerFactory.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import java.util.List;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.http.MimeTypes;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.server.Connector;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.server.Server;
+import org.eclipse.jetty.server.SessionManager;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ErrorHandler;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.server.ssl.SslSocketConnector;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ErrorPageErrorHandler;
@@ -227,13 +228,13 @@ public class JettyEmbeddedServletContainerFactory extends
 						.getClassLoader())) {
 			addJspServlet(context);
 		}
-
 		ServletContextInitializer[] initializersToUse = mergeInitializers(initializers);
 		Configuration[] configurations = getWebAppContextConfigurations(context,
 				initializersToUse);
 		context.setConfigurations(configurations);
-		context.getSessionHandler().getSessionManager()
-				.setMaxInactiveInterval(getSessionTimeout());
+		int sessionTimeout = (getSessionTimeout() > 0 ? getSessionTimeout() : -1);
+		SessionManager sessionManager = context.getSessionHandler().getSessionManager();
+		sessionManager.setMaxInactiveInterval(sessionTimeout);
 		postProcessWebAppContext(context);
 	}
 
diff --git a/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/context/embedded/tomcat/TomcatEmbeddedServletContainerFactory.java b/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/context/embedded/tomcat/TomcatEmbeddedServletContainerFactory.java
index 51fa948a82..f3e17fcdb7 100644
--- a/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/context/embedded/tomcat/TomcatEmbeddedServletContainerFactory.java
+++ b/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/context/embedded/tomcat/TomcatEmbeddedServletContainerFactory.java
@@ -344,12 +344,12 @@ public class TomcatEmbeddedServletContainerFactory extends
 		for (MimeMappings.Mapping mapping : getMimeMappings()) {
 			context.addMimeMapping(mapping.getExtension(), mapping.getMimeType());
 		}
-		long timeout = getSessionTimeout();
-		if (timeout > 0) {
+		long sessionTimeout = getSessionTimeout();
+		if (sessionTimeout > 0) {
 			// Tomcat timeouts are in minutes
-			timeout = Math.max(TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMinutes(timeout), 1L);
+			sessionTimeout = Math.max(TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMinutes(sessionTimeout), 1L);
 		}
-		context.setSessionTimeout((int) timeout);
+		context.setSessionTimeout((int) sessionTimeout);
 		for (TomcatContextCustomizer customizer : this.tomcatContextCustomizers) {
 			customizer.customize(context);
 		}