Rails shared sessions with activerecord

Question

I'm currently using the default cookies as my single sign on (SSO) but some users are getting strange errors after I push an update. I'm considering moving to active record to store sessions but was wondering how I tell rails that the sessions are in another database?

So if I store sessions via AR in App1DB how can all the other apps know thats where to look for sessions?

Answer 1

The rails docs for the session configuration(http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionController/SessionManagement/ClassMethods.html#M000312) says that these are the only options: http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionController/Base.html#M000523. Since an option for which database to use isn't listed, it probably doesn't exist.

Answer 2

Rails most certainly does support database session storage.

In config/environment.rb, uncomment

# config.action_controller.session_store = :active_record_store

Examining \actionpack-2.2.2\lib\action_controller\session\active_record_store.rb shows that CGI::Session::ActiveRecordStore::Session inherits from ActiveRecord::Base.

So at the end of config/environment.rb, you should be able to say

CGI::Session::ActiveRecordStore::Session.establish_connection(
                              :adapter => "mysql",
                              :host => "otherserver",
                              :username => "session_user",
                              :password => "123ABC",
                              :database => "sessions")

or

CGI::Session::ActiveRecordStore::Session.establish_connection(:sessions)

to use a connect defined in config/database.yml

---

For example, add to config/database.yml:

 sessions_development:
   adapter: mysql
   host: otherserver
   username: sessions_user
   password: 123ABC
   database: sessions

Add to the end of config/environment.rb

 CGI::Session::ActiveRecordStore::Session.establish_connection("sessions_#{RAILS_ENV}")

Answer 3

Can we get some clarification on your question? Do you have multiple, different, Rails apps that you want to use the same session store? I ask because you mention SSO and multiple app servers.

Answer 4

In rails 2.3

open config/initializers/session_store.rb

uncomment the line ActionController::Base.session_store = :active_record_store

change the key's value on the line which looks like :key => '_YOUR_APP_NAME_session'

then restart your server.

The result will change your store, and invalidate all old cookies