Session cookies disappear!

[Nicolae Fieraru]

Hi All,

I recently discovered that my session cookies on the web host disappear
within 30 seconds.
I created some very simple asp scripts (it took me a while until I
discovered why my shopping cart acts very weird...) to check the session
cookies.

On one asp page I set up cookies:

setcookie.asp
<%
Session("TransactionID") = 15
Session("CustomerID") = 1
%>

and on

readcookie.asp
<%
response.write "Session(""TransactionID"")=" & Session("TransactionID") &
"<br>"
response.write "Session(""CustomerID"")=" & Session("CustomerID") & "<br>"
%>

The same asp pages run on my XP Pro show that the session cookies don't
expire as long as I close the browser, while on the remote web server, if I
do a refresh on readcookie.asp after 30 seconds, they are gone.

I run ASP on the server and all I know is that it is a Plesk server. No idea
if it actually a Linux server or a Windows one...
Do I have to setup expiry time or something for session cookies?
Any information appreciated.

Regards,
Nicolae

 

[Aaron [SQL Server MVP]]

The same asp pages run on my XP Pro show that the session cookies don't

expire as long as I close the browser, while on the remote web server, if I
do a refresh on readcookie.asp after 30 seconds, they are gone.
http://www.aspfaq.com/2157

I run ASP on the server and all I know is that it is a Plesk server. No idea
if it actually a Linux server or a Windows one...

Well, that's a big difference. You're going to need to find out if it is
Windows, and if not, what kind of ASP emulator is running. It could be a
setting in the web server (e.g. they could have disabled session state), but
for anything on the server, if you don't have direct access to it, you're
going to have to talk to the technical people there anyway.

A

 

[Nicolae Fieraru]

Well, that's a big difference. You're going to need to find out if it is
Windows, and if not, what kind of ASP emulator is running. It could be a
setting in the web server (e.g. they could have disabled session state),
but
for anything on the server, if you don't have direct access to it, you're
going to have to talk to the technical people there anyway.

Thank you very much, Aaron. I read the FAQ and I think it is a problem on
the web server. Apparently they have a Windows server.
I contacted them, waiting for their reply.

Regards,
Nicolae

 

[Mark Schupp]

Thank you very much, Aaron. I read the FAQ and I think it is a problem on
the web server. Apparently they have a Windows server.
I contacted them, waiting for their reply.

Regards,
Nicolae

Try this:

Response.write Session.Timeout

What do you get?

 

[Adam Short]

If this is a random occurrance, you're not alone.

I think I have found the solution though. If the server is a Windows
server, which I suspect it is, the name of the server must not contain any
_.

Micorsoft IIS6 randomly drops sessions by design if an underscore _ is
contained in the server name, some sort of security flaw or something. To
fix the problem make sure the machine name does not have an _ and make sure
the workgroup it belongs to does not have an _.

I recently experienced this problem on a new server I am renting and changed
the workgroup as stated above and it seems to be stable.

Try it and see

 

[Adam Short]

If this is a random occurrance, you're not alone.

I think I have found the solution though. If the server is a Windows
server, which I suspect it is, the name of the server must not contain any
_.

Micorsoft IIS6 randomly drops sessions by design if an underscore _ is
contained in the server name, some sort of security flaw or something. To
fix the problem make sure the machine name does not have an _ and make sure
the workgroup it belongs to does not have an _.

I recently experienced this problem on a new server I am renting and changed
the workgroup as stated above and it seems to be stable.

Try it and see

 

[Mark Schupp]

It is not IIS it is IE that is dropping cookies and it is by design.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316112