diff --git a/jetty-nosql/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/NoSqlSession.java b/jetty-nosql/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/NoSqlSession.java
index afdd9ed31a9..943b3c32d0c 100644
--- a/jetty-nosql/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/NoSqlSession.java
+++ b/jetty-nosql/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/NoSqlSession.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 package org.eclipse.jetty.nosql;
 
+
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
@@ -32,7 +33,9 @@ import org.eclipse.jetty.util.log.Logger;
 /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
 public class NoSqlSession extends MemSession
 {
-    private final static Logger __log = Log.getLogger("org.eclipse.jetty.server.session");
+    private final static Logger LOG = Log.getLogger("org.eclipse.jetty.server.session");
+    
+    private enum IdleState {NOT_IDLE, IDLE, IDLING, DEIDLING};
 
     private final NoSqlSessionManager _manager;
     private Set<String> _dirty;
@@ -40,6 +43,10 @@ public class NoSqlSession extends MemSession
     private Object _version;
     private long _lastSync;
 
+    private IdleState _idle = IdleState.NOT_IDLE;
+    
+    private boolean _deIdleFailed;
+
     /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
     public NoSqlSession(NoSqlSessionManager manager, HttpServletRequest request)
     {
@@ -73,7 +80,7 @@ public class NoSqlSession extends MemSession
     }
     
     
-
+    /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
     @Override
     public void setAttribute(String name, Object value)
     {
@@ -93,7 +100,7 @@ public class NoSqlSession extends MemSession
     }
     
     
-
+    /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
     @Override
     protected void timeout() throws IllegalStateException
     {
@@ -106,6 +113,10 @@ public class NoSqlSession extends MemSession
     @Override
     protected void checkValid() throws IllegalStateException
     {
+        //whenever a method is called on the session, check that it was not idled and
+        //reinflate it if necessary
+        if (!isDeIdleFailed() && _manager.getIdlePeriod() > 0 && isIdle())
+            deIdle();
         super.checkValid();
     }
 
@@ -113,7 +124,8 @@ public class NoSqlSession extends MemSession
     @Override
     protected boolean access(long time)
     {
-        __log.debug("NoSqlSession:access:active {} time {}", _active, time);
+        if (LOG.isDebugEnabled())
+            LOG.debug("NoSqlSession:access:active {} time {}", _active, time);
         if (_active.incrementAndGet()==1)
         {
             long period=_manager.getStalePeriod()*1000L;
@@ -122,7 +134,8 @@ public class NoSqlSession extends MemSession
             else if (period>0)
             {
                 long stale=time-_lastSync;
-                __log.debug("NoSqlSession:access:stale "+stale);
+                if (LOG.isDebugEnabled())
+                    LOG.debug("NoSqlSession:access:stale "+stale);
                 if (stale>period)
                     refresh();
             }
@@ -170,7 +183,112 @@ public class NoSqlSession extends MemSession
             _lastSync=getAccessed();
         }
     }
+    
+    
+    /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
+    public void idle ()
+    {
+        synchronized (this)
+        {
+            if (!isIdle() && !isIdling()) //don't re-idle an idle session as the attribute map will be empty
+            {
+                if (LOG.isDebugEnabled())
+                    LOG.debug("Idling {}", super.getId());
+                setIdling();
+                save(false);
+                willPassivate();
+                clearAttributes();
+                setIdle(true);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    
+    
+    /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
+    public synchronized void deIdle()
+    {
+        if (LOG.isDebugEnabled())
+            LOG.debug("Checking before de-idling {}, isidle:{}, isDeidleFailed:", super.getId(), isIdle(), isDeIdleFailed());
+        
+        if (isIdle() && !isDeIdleFailed())
+        {
 
+            setDeIdling();
+            if (LOG.isDebugEnabled())
+                LOG.debug("De-idling " + super.getId());
+
+            // Update access time to prevent race with idling period
+            super.access(System.currentTimeMillis());
+
+            //access may have expired and invalidated the session, so only deidle if it is still valid
+            if (isValid())
+            {
+                try
+                {    
+                    setIdle(false);
+                    _version=_manager.refresh(this, new Long(0)); //ensure version should not match to force refresh
+                    if (_version == null)
+                        setDeIdleFailed(true);
+                }
+                catch (Exception e)
+                {
+                    setDeIdleFailed(true);
+                    LOG.warn("Problem de-idling session " + super.getId(), e);
+                    invalidate();
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    
+    /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
+    public synchronized boolean isIdle ()
+    {
+        return _idle == IdleState.IDLE;
+    }
+    
+    
+    /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
+    public synchronized boolean isIdling ()
+    {
+        return _idle == IdleState.IDLING;
+    }
+    
+    /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
+    public synchronized boolean isDeIdling()
+    {
+        return _idle == IdleState.DEIDLING;
+    }
+    
+    
+    public synchronized void setIdling ()
+    {
+        _idle = IdleState.IDLING;
+    }
+    
+    public synchronized void setDeIdling ()
+    {
+        _idle = IdleState.DEIDLING;
+    }
+    
+    /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
+    public synchronized void setIdle (boolean idle)
+    {
+        if (idle)
+            _idle = IdleState.IDLE;
+        else
+            _idle = IdleState.NOT_IDLE;
+    }
+    
+
+    public boolean isDeIdleFailed()
+    {
+        return _deIdleFailed;
+    }
+
+    public void setDeIdleFailed(boolean _deIdleFailed)
+    {
+        this._deIdleFailed = _deIdleFailed;
+    }
 
     /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
     protected void refresh()
@@ -209,13 +327,17 @@ public class NoSqlSession extends MemSession
     {
         return _version;
     }
-
+    
+    
+    /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
     @Override
     public void setClusterId(String clusterId)
     {
         super.setClusterId(clusterId);
     }
 
+    
+    /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
     @Override
     public void setNodeId(String nodeId)
     {
diff --git a/jetty-nosql/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/NoSqlSessionManager.java b/jetty-nosql/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/NoSqlSessionManager.java
index 137d2385411..288a0d1f453 100644
--- a/jetty-nosql/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/NoSqlSessionManager.java
+++ b/jetty-nosql/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/NoSqlSessionManager.java
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ public abstract class NoSqlSessionManager extends AbstractSessionManager impleme
     private int _stalePeriod=0;
     private int _savePeriod=0;
     private int _idlePeriod=-1;
+    private boolean _deidleBeforeExpiry = true;
     private boolean _invalidateOnStop;
     private boolean _preserveOnStop = true;
     private boolean _saveAllAttributes;
@@ -82,6 +83,8 @@ public abstract class NoSqlSessionManager extends AbstractSessionManager impleme
         
         if (session==null)
         {
+            __log.debug("Session {} is not in memory", idInCluster);
+            
             //session not in this node's memory, load it
             session=loadSession(idInCluster);
             
@@ -109,6 +112,8 @@ public abstract class NoSqlSessionManager extends AbstractSessionManager impleme
             else
                 __log.debug("session does not exist {}", idInCluster);
         }
+        else
+            session.deIdle();
 
         return session;
     }
@@ -206,8 +211,15 @@ public abstract class NoSqlSessionManager extends AbstractSessionManager impleme
                 //we need to expire the session with its listeners, so load it
                 session = loadSession(idInCluster);
             }
+            else
+            {
+                //deidle if the session was idled
+                if (isDeidleBeforeExpiry())
+                    session.deIdle();
+            }
 
-            if (session != null)
+            //check that session is still valid after potential de-idle
+            if (session != null && session.isValid())
                 session.timeout();
         }
         catch (Exception e)
@@ -304,7 +316,6 @@ public abstract class NoSqlSessionManager extends AbstractSessionManager impleme
      * The Idle Period is the time in seconds before an in memory session is passivated.
      * When this period is exceeded, the session will be passivated and removed from memory.  If the session was dirty, it will be written to the DB.
      * If the idle period is set to a value &lt; 0, then the session is never idled.
-     * If the save period is set to 0, then the session is idled whenever the active request count goes from 1 to 0.
      * @return the idlePeriod
      */
     public int getIdlePeriod()
@@ -317,7 +328,6 @@ public abstract class NoSqlSessionManager extends AbstractSessionManager impleme
      * The Idle Period is the time in seconds before an in memory session is passivated.
      * When this period is exceeded, the session will be passivated and removed from memory.  If the session was dirty, it will be written to the DB.
      * If the idle period is set to a value &lt; 0, then the session is never idled.
-     * If the save period is set to 0, then the session is idled whenever the active request count goes from 1 to 0.
      * @param idlePeriod the idlePeriod in seconds
      */
     public void setIdlePeriod(int idlePeriod)
@@ -385,6 +395,18 @@ public abstract class NoSqlSessionManager extends AbstractSessionManager impleme
         _saveAllAttributes = saveAllAttributes;
     }
     
+    /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
+    public boolean isDeidleBeforeExpiry()
+    {
+        return _deidleBeforeExpiry;
+    }
+    
+    /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
+    public void setDeidleBeforeExpiry(boolean deidleBeforeExpiry)
+    {
+        _deidleBeforeExpiry = deidleBeforeExpiry;
+    }
+    
     /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
     @Override
     public void renewSessionId(String oldClusterId, String oldNodeId, String newClusterId, String newNodeId)
diff --git a/jetty-nosql/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/mongodb/MongoSessionIdManager.java b/jetty-nosql/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/mongodb/MongoSessionIdManager.java
index e078b9a8d35..a6a78835f62 100644
--- a/jetty-nosql/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/mongodb/MongoSessionIdManager.java
+++ b/jetty-nosql/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/mongodb/MongoSessionIdManager.java
@@ -76,10 +76,10 @@ public class MongoSessionIdManager extends AbstractSessionIdManager
     
     final DBCollection _sessions;
     protected Server _server;
-    private Scheduler _scheduler;
-    private boolean _ownScheduler;
-    private Scheduler.Task _scavengerTask;
-    private Scheduler.Task _purgerTask;
+    protected Scheduler _scheduler;
+    protected boolean _ownScheduler;
+    protected Scheduler.Task _scavengerTask;
+    protected Scheduler.Task _purgerTask;
  
 
     
@@ -134,6 +134,7 @@ public class MongoSessionIdManager extends AbstractSessionIdManager
             try
             {
                 scavenge();
+                idle();
             }
             finally
             {
@@ -687,6 +688,26 @@ public class MongoSessionIdManager extends AbstractSessionIdManager
         }      
     }
     
+    
+    public void idle ()
+    {
+        //tell all contexts to passivate out idle sessions
+        Handler[] contexts = _server.getChildHandlersByClass(ContextHandler.class);
+        for (int i=0; contexts!=null && i<contexts.length; i++)
+        {
+            SessionHandler sessionHandler = ((ContextHandler)contexts[i]).getChildHandlerByClass(SessionHandler.class);
+            if (sessionHandler != null) 
+            {
+                SessionManager manager = sessionHandler.getSessionManager();
+
+                if (manager != null && manager instanceof MongoSessionManager)
+                {
+                    ((MongoSessionManager)manager).idle();
+                }
+            }
+        }      
+    }
+    
     /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
     @Override
     public void renewSessionId(String oldClusterId, String oldNodeId, HttpServletRequest request)
diff --git a/jetty-nosql/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/mongodb/MongoSessionManager.java b/jetty-nosql/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/mongodb/MongoSessionManager.java
index 9f257a946bb..795718585ef 100644
--- a/jetty-nosql/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/mongodb/MongoSessionManager.java
+++ b/jetty-nosql/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/mongodb/MongoSessionManager.java
@@ -322,7 +322,8 @@ public class MongoSessionManager extends NoSqlSessionManager
     @Override
     protected Object refresh(NoSqlSession session, Object version)
     {
-        __log.debug("MongoSessionManager:refresh session {}", session.getId());
+        if (__log.isDebugEnabled())
+            __log.debug("MongoSessionManager:refresh session {}", session.getId());
 
         // check if our in memory version is the same as what is on the disk
         if (version != null)
@@ -335,7 +336,8 @@ public class MongoSessionManager extends NoSqlSessionManager
                 
                 if (saved != null && saved.equals(version))
                 {
-                    __log.debug("MongoSessionManager:refresh not needed session {}", session.getId());
+                    if (__log.isDebugEnabled())
+                        __log.debug("MongoSessionManager:refresh not needed session {}", session.getId());
                     return version;
                 }
                 version = saved;
@@ -347,8 +349,9 @@ public class MongoSessionManager extends NoSqlSessionManager
 
         // If it doesn't exist, invalidate
         if (o == null)
-        {
-            __log.debug("MongoSessionManager:refresh:marking session {} invalid, no object", session.getClusterId());
+        {            
+            if (__log.isDebugEnabled())
+                __log.debug("MongoSessionManager:refresh:marking session {} invalid, no object", session.getClusterId());
             session.invalidate();
             return null;
         }
@@ -357,7 +360,8 @@ public class MongoSessionManager extends NoSqlSessionManager
         Boolean valid = (Boolean)o.get(__VALID);
         if (valid == null || !valid)
         {
-            __log.debug("MongoSessionManager:refresh:marking session {} invalid, valid flag {}", session.getClusterId(), valid);
+            if (__log.isDebugEnabled())
+                __log.debug("MongoSessionManager:refresh:marking session {} invalid, valid flag {}", session.getClusterId(), valid);
             session.invalidate();
             return null;
         }
@@ -386,7 +390,7 @@ public class MongoSessionManager extends NoSqlSessionManager
                     Object value = decodeValue(attrs.get(name));
 
                     //session does not already contain this attribute, so bind it
-                    if (session.getAttribute(attr) == null)
+                    if (session.doGet(attr) == null)
                     { 
                         session.doPutOrRemove(attr,value);
                         session.bindValue(attr,value);
@@ -435,19 +439,26 @@ public class MongoSessionManager extends NoSqlSessionManager
 
         return null;
     }
+    
+    
+   
+                             
+    
 
     /*------------------------------------------------------------ */
     @Override
     protected synchronized NoSqlSession loadSession(String clusterId)
     {
         DBObject o = _dbSessions.findOne(new BasicDBObject(__ID,clusterId));
-        
-        __log.debug("MongoSessionManager:id={} loaded={}", clusterId, o);
+
+        if (__log.isDebugEnabled())
+            __log.debug("MongoSessionManager:id={} loaded={}", clusterId, o);
         if (o == null)
             return null;
-        
+
         Boolean valid = (Boolean)o.get(__VALID);
-        __log.debug("MongoSessionManager:id={} valid={}", clusterId, valid);
+        if (__log.isDebugEnabled())
+            __log.debug("MongoSessionManager:id={} valid={}", clusterId, valid);
         if (valid == null || !valid)
             return null;
         
@@ -461,11 +472,12 @@ public class MongoSessionManager extends NoSqlSessionManager
 
             // get the session for the context
             DBObject attrs = (DBObject)getNestedValue(o,getContextKey());
-
-            __log.debug("MongoSessionManager:attrs {}", attrs);
+            if (__log.isDebugEnabled())
+                __log.debug("MongoSessionManager:attrs {}", attrs);
             if (attrs != null)
             {
-                __log.debug("MongoSessionManager: session {} present for context {}", clusterId, getContextKey());
+                if (__log.isDebugEnabled())
+                    __log.debug("MongoSessionManager: session {} present for context {}", clusterId, getContextKey());
                 //only load a session if it exists for this context
                 session = new NoSqlSession(this,created,accessed,clusterId,version);
                 
@@ -483,7 +495,7 @@ public class MongoSessionManager extends NoSqlSessionManager
                 }
                 session.didActivate();
             }
-            else
+            else if (__log.isDebugEnabled())
                 __log.debug("MongoSessionManager: session  {} not present for context {}",clusterId, getContextKey());        
 
             return session;
@@ -505,7 +517,8 @@ public class MongoSessionManager extends NoSqlSessionManager
     @Override
     protected boolean remove(NoSqlSession session)
     {
-        __log.debug("MongoSessionManager:remove:session {} for context {}",session.getClusterId(), getContextKey());
+        if (__log.isDebugEnabled())
+            __log.debug("MongoSessionManager:remove:session {} for context {}",session.getClusterId(), getContextKey());
 
         /*
          * Check if the session exists and if it does remove the context
@@ -539,7 +552,8 @@ public class MongoSessionManager extends NoSqlSessionManager
     @Override
     protected void expire (String idInCluster)
     {
-        __log.debug("MongoSessionManager:expire session {} ", idInCluster);
+        if (__log.isDebugEnabled())
+            __log.debug("MongoSessionManager:expire session {} ", idInCluster);
 
         //Expire the session for this context
         super.expire(idInCluster);
@@ -562,6 +576,34 @@ public class MongoSessionManager extends NoSqlSessionManager
     }
     
     
+    
+    /**
+     *  Passivate out any sessions that are not expired, but have been idle
+     *  longer than the idle timeout
+     */
+    protected void idle ()
+    {
+        //no idle timout set, so don't idle out any sessions
+        if (getIdlePeriod() <= 0)
+            return;
+        
+        long idleMs = getIdlePeriod()*1000L;
+        long now = System.currentTimeMillis();
+        
+        synchronized (this) //necessary?
+        {
+            for (NoSqlSession session:_sessions.values())
+            {
+                if (session.getAccessed()+ idleMs < now)
+                {
+                    //idle the session by passivating the session to mongo, then clearing the session's attribute map in memory
+                    session.idle();
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    
+    
     /*------------------------------------------------------------ */
     /** 
      * Change the session id. Note that this will change the session id for all contexts for which the session id is in use.
diff --git a/tests/test-sessions/test-mongodb-sessions/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/mongodb/IdleSessionTest.java b/tests/test-sessions/test-mongodb-sessions/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/mongodb/IdleSessionTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..1116e21c738
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test-sessions/test-mongodb-sessions/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/mongodb/IdleSessionTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,236 @@
+//
+//  ========================================================================
+//  Copyright (c) 1995-2016 Mort Bay Consulting Pty. Ltd.
+//  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+//  All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
+//  are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0
+//  and Apache License v2.0 which accompanies this distribution.
+//
+//      The Eclipse Public License is available at
+//      http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
+//
+//      The Apache License v2.0 is available at
+//      http://www.opensource.org/licenses/apache2.0.php
+//
+//  You may elect to redistribute this code under either of these licenses.
+//  ========================================================================
+//
+
+package org.eclipse.jetty.nosql.mongodb;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import javax.servlet.ServletException;
+import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
+import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
+import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
+import javax.servlet.http.HttpSession;
+
+import org.eclipse.jetty.client.HttpClient;
+import org.eclipse.jetty.client.api.ContentResponse;
+import org.eclipse.jetty.client.api.Request;
+import org.eclipse.jetty.nosql.NoSqlSession;
+import org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletContextHandler;
+import org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletHolder;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+/**
+ * IdleSessionTest
+ * 
+ * Test that mongo sessions can be passivated if idle longer than a configurable
+ * interval (which should be shorter than the expiry interval!)
+ *
+ */
+public class IdleSessionTest
+{
+    public static TestServlet _servlet = new TestServlet();
+    
+
+    public MongoTestServer createServer(int port, int max, int scavenge)
+    {
+        MongoTestServer server =  new MongoTestServer(port,max,scavenge);
+
+        return server;
+    }
+    
+
+    public void pause (int sec)
+    {
+        try
+        {
+            Thread.sleep(sec * 1000L);
+        }
+        catch (InterruptedException e)
+        {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        }
+    }
+
+    
+
+    @Test
+    public void testIdleSession() throws Exception
+    {
+        String contextPath = "";
+        String servletMapping = "/server";
+        int inactivePeriod = 20; //sessions expire after 20 seconds
+        int scavengePeriod = 1; //look for expired sessions every second
+        int idlePeriod = 3; //after 3 seconds of inactivity, idle to disk
+        
+        
+        MongoTestServer server1 = createServer(0, inactivePeriod, scavengePeriod);
+        ServletHolder holder = new ServletHolder(_servlet);
+        ServletContextHandler contextHandler = server1.addContext(contextPath);
+        ((MongoSessionManager)contextHandler.getSessionHandler().getSessionManager()).setIdlePeriod(idlePeriod);
+        contextHandler.addServlet(holder, servletMapping);
+        server1.start();
+        int port1 = server1.getPort();
+
+        try
+        {
+            HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
+            client.start();
+            String url = "http://localhost:" + port1 + contextPath + servletMapping;
+
+            //make a request to set up a session on the server
+            ContentResponse response = client.GET(url + "?action=init");
+            assertEquals(HttpServletResponse.SC_OK,response.getStatus());
+            String sessionCookie = response.getHeaders().get("Set-Cookie");
+            assertTrue(sessionCookie != null);
+            // Mangle the cookie, replacing Path with $Path, etc.
+            sessionCookie = sessionCookie.replaceFirst("(\\W)(P|p)ath=", "$1\\$Path=");
+
+            //and wait until the session should be idled out
+            pause(idlePeriod * 2);
+            
+            //check that the session is idle
+            checkSessionIdle();
+
+            //make another request to de-idle the session
+            Request request = client.newRequest(url + "?action=test");
+            request.getHeaders().add("Cookie", sessionCookie);
+            ContentResponse response2 = request.send();
+            assertEquals(HttpServletResponse.SC_OK,response2.getStatus());
+
+            //check session de-idled
+            checkSessionDeIdle();
+            checkValue(2);
+            
+            //wait again for the session to be idled
+            pause(idlePeriod * 2);
+
+            //check that it is
+            checkSessionIdle();
+            
+            //While idle, take some action to ensure that a deidle won't work, like
+            //deleting all sessions in mongo
+            assertTrue(server1.getServer().getSessionIdManager() instanceof MongoTestServer.TestMongoSessionIdManager);
+            ((MongoTestServer.TestMongoSessionIdManager)server1.getServer().getSessionIdManager()).deleteAll();
+            
+            //now make a request for which deidle should fail
+            request = client.newRequest(url + "?action=testfail");
+            request.getHeaders().add("Cookie", sessionCookie);
+            response2 = request.send();
+            assertEquals(HttpServletResponse.SC_OK,response2.getStatus());
+            
+            //Test trying to de-idle an expired session (ie before the scavenger can get to it)
+            
+            System.err.println("\n TESTING DEIDLE EXPIRED\n");
+            //make a request to set up a session on the server
+            response = client.GET(url + "?action=init");
+            assertEquals(HttpServletResponse.SC_OK,response.getStatus());
+            sessionCookie = response.getHeaders().get("Set-Cookie");
+            assertTrue(sessionCookie != null);
+            // Mangle the cookie, replacing Path with $Path, etc.
+            sessionCookie = sessionCookie.replaceFirst("(\\W)(P|p)ath=", "$1\\$Path=");
+
+            //and wait until the session should be idled out
+            pause(idlePeriod * 2);
+            
+            //stop the scavenger
+            ((MongoTestServer.TestMongoSessionIdManager)server1.getServer().getSessionIdManager()).cancelScavenge();
+            System.err.println("SCAVENGE STOPPED");
+            //check that the session is idle
+            checkSessionIdle();
+            
+            System.err.println("WAITING FOR EXPIRY TIME TO PASS");
+            //wait until the session should be expired
+            pause (inactivePeriod + (inactivePeriod/2));
+            System.err.println("EXPIRY TIME PASSED");
+            
+            //make a request to try and deidle the session
+            //make another request to de-idle the session
+            request = client.newRequest(url + "?action=testfail");
+            request.getHeaders().add("Cookie", sessionCookie);
+            response2 = request.send();
+            assertEquals(HttpServletResponse.SC_OK,response2.getStatus());
+        }
+        finally
+        {
+            server1.stop();
+        }
+    }
+    
+    public void checkSessionIdle ()
+    {
+        assertNotNull(_servlet);
+        assertNotNull((NoSqlSession)_servlet._session);
+        assertTrue(((NoSqlSession)_servlet._session).isIdle());    
+    }
+    
+    
+    public void checkSessionDeIdle ()
+    {
+        assertNotNull(_servlet);
+        assertNotNull((NoSqlSession)_servlet._session);
+        assertTrue(!((NoSqlSession)_servlet._session).isIdle());  
+        assertTrue(!((NoSqlSession)_servlet._session).isDeIdleFailed());
+    }
+
+    
+    public void checkValue (int value)
+    {
+        assertNotNull(_servlet);
+        assertEquals(value, ((Integer)_servlet._session.getAttribute("value")).intValue());
+    }
+    
+    public static class TestServlet extends HttpServlet
+    {
+        public String originalId = null;
+        
+        public HttpSession _session = null;
+
+        @Override
+        protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse httpServletResponse) throws ServletException, IOException
+        {
+            String action = request.getParameter("action");
+            if ("init".equals(action))
+            {
+                HttpSession session = request.getSession(true);
+                session.setAttribute("value", new Integer(1));
+                originalId = session.getId();
+                assertTrue(!((NoSqlSession)session).isIdle());
+                _session = session;
+            }
+            else if ("test".equals(action))
+            {
+                HttpSession session = request.getSession(false);
+                assertTrue(session != null);
+                assertTrue(originalId.equals(session.getId()));
+                assertTrue(!((NoSqlSession)session).isIdle());
+                Integer v = (Integer)session.getAttribute("value");
+                assertNotNull(v);
+                session.setAttribute("value", new Integer(v.intValue()+1));
+            }
+            else if ("testfail".equals(action))
+            {
+                HttpSession session = request.getSession(false);
+                assertTrue(session == null);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/tests/test-sessions/test-mongodb-sessions/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/mongodb/MongoTestServer.java b/tests/test-sessions/test-mongodb-sessions/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/mongodb/MongoTestServer.java
index 5a5bfacdac9..79149b9cb96 100644
--- a/tests/test-sessions/test-mongodb-sessions/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/mongodb/MongoTestServer.java
+++ b/tests/test-sessions/test-mongodb-sessions/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/nosql/mongodb/MongoTestServer.java
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ import org.eclipse.jetty.server.SessionManager;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.server.session.AbstractTestServer;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.server.session.SessionHandler;
 
-import com.mongodb.BasicDBObject;
 import com.mongodb.DBCursor;
 import com.mongodb.DBObject;
 import com.mongodb.MongoException;
@@ -60,6 +59,12 @@ public class MongoTestServer extends AbstractTestServer
                 _sessions.remove(session);
             }
         }
+        
+        public void cancelScavenge ()
+        {
+            if (_scavengerTask != null)
+                _scavengerTask.cancel();
+        }
     }
     
     public MongoTestServer(int port)
@@ -84,7 +89,6 @@ public class MongoTestServer extends AbstractTestServer
     {
         try
         {
-            System.err.println("MongoTestServer:SessionIdManager scavenge: delay:"+ _scavengePeriod + " period:"+_scavengePeriod);
             MongoSessionIdManager idManager = new TestMongoSessionIdManager(_server);
             idManager.setWorkerName("w"+(__workers++));
             idManager.setScavengePeriod(_scavengePeriod);