PHP Cookbook

8.6. Storing Sessions in a Database

Problem

You want to store session data in a database instead of in files. If multiple web servers all have access to the same database, the session data is then mirrored across all the web servers.

Solution

Set session.save_handler to user in php.ini and use the pc_DB_Session class shown in Example 8-1. For example:

$s = new pc_DB_Session('mysql://user:password@localhost/db');
ini_get('session.auto_start') or session_start();

Discussion

One of the most powerful aspects of the session module is its abstraction of how sessions get saved. The session_set_save_handler( ) function tells PHP to use different functions for the various session operations such as saving a session and reading session data. The pc_DB_Session class stores the session data in a database. If this database is shared between multiple web servers, users’ session information is portable across all those web servers. So, if you have a bunch of web servers behind a load balancer, you don’t need any fancy tricks to ensure that a user’s session data is accurate no matter which web server they get sent to.

To use pc_DB_Session, pass a data source name (DSN) to the class when you instantiate it. The session data is stored in a table called php_session whose structure is:

CREATE TABLE php_session (
  id CHAR(32) NOT NULL,
  data MEDIUMBLOB,
  last_access INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY(id)
)

If you want the table name to be different than php_session, set session.save_path in