[SOLVED] How do I extend session life?

[frankerpulten]

Hi,

I don't have access to the configuration file for the server, so i tried to change the session timeout by creating a file called php.ini and placing it in the specific folder for the site.  Here's the file code:

register_globals = on
session.save_path = "/mnt/w9999/.phpsessions"
upload_tmp_dir = "/tmp/"
upload_max_filesize = 20000000
post_max_size = 20000000
zend_extension = /usr/local/nf/share/ioncube/ioncube_loader_fre_4.4.so
session.gc_maxlifetime = 3600

This didn't seem to work.  The session still times out for users after 24 minutes.

 

Any hints or help would be awesome

[p2grace]

Try this in a php file that is always included on your site:

 

<?php
ini_set('session.gc_maxlifetime',30); 
ini_set('session.cookie_lifetime',30);
?>

[frankerpulten]

Hi thanks for your reply.  My php code now looks like this:

<?php
session_start();
ini_set('session.gc_maxlifetime',3600); 
ini_set('session.cookie_lifetime',3600);



?>

 

on the page that users are on while running a flash application.

 

I tested it and the session still seems to time out after 24 minutes though. 

Any ideas?

[PFMaBiSmAd]

Because those two values affect what session_start() does, they must be set before the session_start() statement. You must also set them before every session_start() statement that is in your code.

[frankerpulten]

Alright, so I put

<?php

ini_set('session.gc_maxlifetime',3600); 
ini_set('session.cookie_lifetime',3600);
session_start(); 

 

on every page that calls upon the session.  It's still expiring after 24 minutes though.  I'm kinda stumped.

[PFMaBiSmAd]

Are you on a shared web server and do you still have the following setting in place (is that valid path as well?) -

session.save_path = "/mnt/w9999/.phpsessions"

 

What does a phpinfo(); statement show for the session.save_path?

 

 

[frankerpulten]

Yah it is a shared web server.

and session.save_path is /mnt/w9999/.phpsessions

 

Should I change that?

 

Btw, in phpinfo it says that session.gc_maxlifetime is 3600

 

[PFMaBiSmAd]

On a shared web server, when the session.save_path is the common default location, the shortest session.gc_maxlifetime of all the accounts is what gets used to delete the old session data files.

 

You need to set session.save_path to be to a private folder within your account's folder tree in order to get your session settings to apply to just your session data files.

 

Create a folder of your own and set the session.save_path to match that folder. You must set the session.save_path before every session_start(). Setting it globally in a local php.ini file would be the best way to set it.

[frankerpulten]

I get this error now that I've changed the session save path :

Warning: session_start() [function.session-start]: open(/www/mysite.ca/myfolder/session/sess_9ff691f817defdbbf5b32fffc39d5f64, O_RDWR) failed: No such file or directory (2) in /mnt/w0803/d01/s19/b02e13a5/www/mysite.ca/myfolder/consent2.php on line 8

 

I created a folder called session in the folder of my web site.

Thanks for all your help so far. 

I'm pretty new to php. 

[PFMaBiSmAd]

Based on the path listed in the error message for your script -

 

/mnt/w0803/d01/s19/b02e13a5/www/mysite.ca/myfolder/

 

The path to the session folder is probably -

 

/mnt/w0803/d01/s19/b02e13a5/www/mysite.ca/myfolder/session/

[frankerpulten]

thanks, that totally worked!

 

You rock!