diff --git a/web/gui/src/main/java/org/onosproject/ui/impl/MainIndexResource.java b/web/gui/src/main/java/org/onosproject/ui/impl/MainIndexResource.java
index 1e72b94..218e259 100644
--- a/web/gui/src/main/java/org/onosproject/ui/impl/MainIndexResource.java
+++ b/web/gui/src/main/java/org/onosproject/ui/impl/MainIndexResource.java
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.SequenceInputStream;
+import java.net.URI;
 
 import static com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList.of;
 import static com.google.common.io.ByteStreams.toByteArray;
@@ -46,6 +47,8 @@
 @Path("/")
 public class MainIndexResource extends AbstractInjectionResource {
 
+    private static final String INDEX_REDIRECT = "/onos/ui/index.html";
+
     private static final String INDEX = "index.html";
     private static final String NOT_READY = "not-ready.html";
 
@@ -66,6 +69,16 @@
 
     @GET
     @Produces(MediaType.TEXT_HTML)
+    public Response getMainIndexRedirect() throws IOException {
+        if (ctx == null || ctx.getUserPrincipal() == null) {
+            return Response.temporaryRedirect(URI.create(INDEX_REDIRECT)).build();
+        }
+        return getMainIndex();
+    }
+
+    @GET
+    @Produces(MediaType.TEXT_HTML)
+    @Path("/index.html")
     public Response getMainIndex() throws IOException {
         ClassLoader classLoader = getClass().getClassLoader();
         UiExtensionService service;
@@ -94,8 +107,7 @@
         // FIXME: use global opaque auth token to allow secure failover
 
         // for now, just use the user principal name...
-        String userName = ctx != null && ctx.getUserPrincipal() != null ?
-                ctx.getUserPrincipal().getName() : "unknown";
+        String userName = ctx.getUserPrincipal().getName();
 
         // get a session token to use for UI-web-socket authentication
         UiSessionToken token = tokens.issueToken(userName);
diff --git a/web/gui/src/main/java/org/onosproject/ui/impl/UiWebSocket.java b/web/gui/src/main/java/org/onosproject/ui/impl/UiWebSocket.java
index 25c2f03..44acba2 100644
--- a/web/gui/src/main/java/org/onosproject/ui/impl/UiWebSocket.java
+++ b/web/gui/src/main/java/org/onosproject/ui/impl/UiWebSocket.java
@@ -19,10 +19,7 @@
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.node.ArrayNode;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.node.ObjectNode;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.websocket.api.Session;
-import org.eclipse.jetty.websocket.api.annotations.OnWebSocketClose;
-import org.eclipse.jetty.websocket.api.annotations.OnWebSocketConnect;
-import org.eclipse.jetty.websocket.api.annotations.OnWebSocketMessage;
-import org.eclipse.jetty.websocket.api.annotations.WebSocket;
+import org.eclipse.jetty.websocket.api.WebSocketAdapter;
 import org.onlab.osgi.ServiceDirectory;
 import org.onlab.osgi.ServiceNotFoundException;
 import org.onosproject.cluster.ClusterService;
@@ -51,16 +48,18 @@
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.Map;
 
+import static org.onosproject.ui.impl.UiWebSocketServlet.PING_DELAY_MS;
+
 /**
  * Web socket capable of interacting with the Web UI.
  */
 
-@WebSocket
-public class UiWebSocket implements UiConnection {
+public class UiWebSocket extends WebSocketAdapter implements UiConnection {
 
     private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(UiWebSocket.class);
 
@@ -87,12 +86,13 @@
 
     private static final long MAX_AGE_MS = 30_000;
 
+    private static final byte[] PING_DATA = new byte[]{(byte) 0xde, (byte) 0xad};
+    private static final ByteBuffer PING = ByteBuffer.wrap(PING_DATA);
+
     private final ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
     private final ServiceDirectory directory;
     private final UiTopoSession topoSession;
 
-    private Session session;
-    //private FrameConnection control;
     private String userName;
     private String currentView;
 
@@ -172,10 +172,10 @@
     /**
      * Issues a close on the connection.
      */
-    synchronized void close() {
+    void close() {
         destroyHandlersAndOverlays();
-        if (session.isOpen()) {
-            session.close();
+        if (isConnected()) {
+            getSession().close();
         }
     }
 
@@ -184,43 +184,43 @@
      *
      * @return true if idle or closed
      */
-    synchronized boolean isIdle() {
+    boolean isIdle() {
         long quietFor = System.currentTimeMillis() - lastActive;
         boolean idle = quietFor > MAX_AGE_MS;
-        if (idle || (session != null && !session.isOpen())) {
+        if (idle || isNotConnected()) {
             log.debug("IDLE (or closed) websocket [{} ms]", quietFor);
             return true;
-        //} else if (session != null) {
-        //    try {
-        //        control.sendControl(PING, PING_DATA, 0, PING_DATA.length);
-        //    } catch (IOException e) {
-        //        log.warn("Unable to send ping message due to: ", e);
-        //    }
+
+        } else if (isConnected() && quietFor > PING_DELAY_MS) {
+            try {
+                getRemote().sendPing(PING);
+                lastActive = System.currentTimeMillis();
+            } catch (IOException e) {
+                log.warn("Unable to send ping message due to: ", e);
+            }
         }
         return false;
     }
 
-    @OnWebSocketConnect
-    public synchronized void onOpen(Session session) {
-        this.session = session;
-        //this.control = (FrameConnection) connection;
+    @Override
+    public void onWebSocketConnect(Session session) {
+        super.onWebSocketConnect(session);
         try {
             topoSession.init();
             createHandlersAndOverlays();
             sendBootstrapData();
             sendUberLionBundle();
+            lastActive = System.currentTimeMillis();
             log.info("GUI client connected -- user <{}>", userName);
 
         } catch (ServiceNotFoundException e) {
             log.warn("Unable to open GUI connection; services have been shut-down", e);
-            this.session.close();
-            this.session = null;
-            //this.control = null;
+            getSession().close();
         }
     }
 
-    @OnWebSocketClose
-    public synchronized void onClose(int closeCode, String message) {
+    @Override
+    public void onWebSocketClose(int closeCode, String reason) {
         try {
             try {
                 tokenService().revokeToken(sessionToken);
@@ -235,12 +235,13 @@
         } catch (Exception e) {
             log.warn("Unexpected error", e);
         }
+        super.onWebSocketClose(closeCode, reason);
         log.info("GUI client disconnected [close-code={}, message={}]",
-                 closeCode, message);
+                 closeCode, reason);
     }
 
-    @OnWebSocketMessage
-    public void onText(Session session, String data) {
+    @Override
+    public void onWebSocketText(String data) {
         lastActive = System.currentTimeMillis();
         try {
             ObjectNode message = (ObjectNode) mapper.reader().readTree(data);
@@ -265,10 +266,16 @@
     }
 
     @Override
+    public void onWebSocketBinary(byte[] payload, int offset, int length) {
+        lastActive = System.currentTimeMillis();
+        log.warn("Binary messages are currently not supported");
+    }
+
+    @Override
     public synchronized void sendMessage(ObjectNode message) {
         try {
-            if (session.isOpen()) {
-                session.getRemote().sendString(message.toString());
+            if (isConnected()) {
+                getRemote().sendString(message.toString());
                 log.debug("TX message: {}", message);
             }
         } catch (IOException e) {
diff --git a/web/gui/src/main/java/org/onosproject/ui/impl/UiWebSocketServlet.java b/web/gui/src/main/java/org/onosproject/ui/impl/UiWebSocketServlet.java
index 8d5d1c9..e9a4cbd 100644
--- a/web/gui/src/main/java/org/onosproject/ui/impl/UiWebSocketServlet.java
+++ b/web/gui/src/main/java/org/onosproject/ui/impl/UiWebSocketServlet.java
@@ -37,8 +37,7 @@
  */
 public class UiWebSocketServlet extends WebSocketServlet {
 
-    private static final long PING_DELAY_MS = 5000;
-    private static final long IDLE_TIMEOUT_MS = 10000;
+    static final long PING_DELAY_MS = 5000;
 
     private static UiWebSocketServlet instance;
     private static final Object INSTANCE_LOCK = new Object();
@@ -53,7 +52,7 @@
 
     @Override
     public void configure(WebSocketServletFactory webSocketServletFactory) {
-        webSocketServletFactory.getPolicy().setIdleTimeout(IDLE_TIMEOUT_MS);
+        webSocketServletFactory.getPolicy().setIdleTimeout(Long.MAX_VALUE);
         webSocketServletFactory.setCreator(new UiWebSocketCreator());
     }
 
diff --git a/web/gui/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml b/web/gui/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml
index 6b65ba4..bb7d7fb 100644
--- a/web/gui/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml
+++ b/web/gui/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
     <display-name>ONOS GUI</display-name>
 
     <welcome-file-list>
-        <welcome-file>index.html</welcome-file>
+        <welcome-file>/index.html</welcome-file>
     </welcome-file-list>
 
     <!--