diff --git a/ocaml/xapi/session_check.ml b/ocaml/xapi/session_check.ml
index 27812fc5244..63ac8fe6e95 100644
--- a/ocaml/xapi/session_check.ml
+++ b/ocaml/xapi/session_check.ml
@@ -53,9 +53,33 @@ let check ~intra_pool_only ~session_id ~action =
           if (not pool) && not (Pool_role.is_master ()) then
             raise Non_master_login_on_slave ;
           if Pool_role.is_master () then
-            Db_actions.DB_Action.Session.set_last_active ~__context
-              ~self:session_id
-              ~value:(Xapi_stdext_date.Date.of_float (Unix.time ()))
+            (* before updating the last_active field, check if the field has been
+               already updated recently. This avoids holding the database lock too often.*)
+            let n = Xapi_stdext_date.Date.now () in
+            let last_active =
+              Db_actions.DB_Action.Session.get_last_active ~__context
+                ~self:session_id
+            in
+            let ptime_now = Xapi_stdext_date.Date.to_ptime n in
+            let refresh_threshold =
+              let last_active_ptime =
+                Xapi_stdext_date.Date.to_ptime last_active
+              in
+              match
+                Ptime.add_span last_active_ptime (Ptime.Span.of_int_s 600)
+              with
+              | None ->
+                  let err_msg =
+                    "Can't add the configurable threshold of last active to \
+                     the current time."
+                  in
+                  raise Api_errors.(Server_error (internal_error, [err_msg]))
+              | Some ptime ->
+                  ptime
+            in
+            if Ptime.is_later ptime_now ~than:refresh_threshold then
+              Db_actions.DB_Action.Session.set_last_active ~__context
+                ~self:session_id ~value:n
         with
         | Db_exn.DBCache_NotFound (_, _, reference) ->
             info