---
title:  Setting Cache Timeouts
---

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Cache timeout properties can modified through the gfsh `alter runtime` command (or declared in the `cache.xml` file) and can also be set through methods of the interface, `org.apache.geode.cache.Cache`.

To modify cache timeout properties, you can issue the following `gfsh alter             runtime` command. For example:

``` pre
gfsh>alter runtime --search-timeout=150
```

The `--search-timeout` parameter specifies how long a netSearch operation can wait for data before timing out. The default is 5 minutes. You may want to change this based on your knowledge of the network load or other factors.

The next two configurations describe timeout settings for locking in regions with global scope. Locking operations can time out in two places: when waiting to obtain a lock (lock time out); and when holding a lock (lock lease time). Operations that modify objects in a global region use automatic locking. In addition, you can manually lock a global region and its entries through `org.apache.geode.cache.Region`. The explicit lock methods provided by the APIs allow you to specify a lock timeout parameter. The lock time out for implicit operations and the lock lease time for implicit and explicit operations are governed by these cache-wide settings:

``` pre
gfsh>alter runtime --lock-timeout=30 --lock-lease=60
```

-   `--lock-timeout`. Timeout for object lock requests, specified in seconds. The setting affects automatic locking only, and does not apply to manual locking. The default is 1 minute. If a lock request does not return before the specified timeout period, it is cancelled and returns with a failure.
-   `--lock-lease`. Timeout for object lock leases, specified in seconds. The setting affects both automatic locking and manual locking. The default is 2 minutes. Once a lock is obtained, it may remain in force for the lock lease time period before being automatically cleared by the system.