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How To configure SQL server to store session state

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I was trying to implement storing ASP.NET session in SQL server today and faced a few problems during configuration. I had to go through many articles that talk about what is SQL server, what's the need to store session in SQL etc. Common, I know them, I just need a few tips or guidelines how to store sessions - in short!

You might get abundant articles that talk about Storing ASP.NET Session in SQL Server. So what’s new in this blog? To be frank nothing’s new, I am just trying to share my experience so that if someone just wants to implement it and knows the concept already.

Initially some years back I thought storing sessions in SQL is a tedious job and requires a lot of administration; however I was proved wrong. Before you can actually store a session state in SQL server using ASP.NET 2.0, you need to configure it. This configuration is done via a command line tool called ASPNET_REGSQL.EXE. However there are stored procedures to create/remove the database [InstallSqlState.sql and UninstallSqlState.sql located at system drive\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\version]

The following table lists the command line switches of the aspnet-regsql.exe that will be normally used in session store configuration: [FYI: aspnet_regsql -? displays many more command switches]

Command line switch

Description

-S <server>

Species the IP address or the name of SQL server in which you want to store the session state

-U

Specifies the user ID to be used when connecting to the SQL Server

-P

Specifies the password to be used when connecting to the SQL Server

-E

Indicates that you want to use integrated security when connecting to the SQL Server

-ssadd

Adds support for the SQLServer mode session state

-ssremove

Removes support for the SQLServer mode session state

-sstype

Type of session state support. This option can be:

t for temporary storage (Stores session data in the SQL Server tempdb database)

p for persistent storage (Stores session data in the ASPState database)

c for custom storage (Stores session data in a custom database)

-d <database>

The name of the custom database to use if -sstype switch is "c"

 

The steps are as follows:

Step1: I like to go for custom storage (I don’t want to use the default ASPState database). I would be naming my database as SQLSessionTable

I would use either of the following statements/commands to create the table in SQL

1. C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC>

aspnet_regsql -ssadd -d SQLSessionTable -S serverName –sstype c -U domain\user -P Password

2. C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC>

aspnet_regsql -ssadd -d SQLSessionTable -S serverName -sstype c –E

If I wanted to use the default ASPState database, I would skip the -d option. The command would be as follows:

       aspnet_regsql -ssadd -S serverName -sstype c –E

Step2:  The next step would be to configure your web.config file to reflect the sessionState information

<sessionState

mode="SQLServer"

allowCustomSqlDatabase="true"

sqlConnectionString="Data Source=serverName;Initial Catalog=SQLSessionTable; Integrated Security=True;"

cookieless="false"

timeout="20" />

In case I had used the default database (ASPState), I would exclude the entries highlighted above. Now proceed with coding your ASP.NET application to support out-of process session state.

A few useful articles,

Session-State Modes

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms178586.aspx

HOW TO: Configure SQL Server to Store ASP.NET Session State

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/317604

 

Let me know if I have missed something

- Akshay

Comments

  • Anonymous
    October 04, 2008
    PingBack from http://blog.a-foton.ru/index.php/2008/10/04/how-to-configure-sql-server-to-store-session-state/
  • Anonymous
    April 12, 2009
    Thank you very much, you saved me a lot of reading
  • Anonymous
    March 25, 2010
    Awesome details, my friend. Keep up the good work
  • Anonymous
    April 06, 2010
    Is there anything different that needs to be done when my SQL server is clustered?  I have installed  the ASPState database many times without issue on non-clustered SQL server.  On this one I get the following error when I try to access my website:Unable to use SQL Server because ASP.NET version 2.0 Session State is not installed on the SQL server. Please install ASP.NET Session State SQL Server version 2.0 or above.If I change the config file and point it to the ASPState Db on my Staging non-clusterd SQL server the web site opens as expected
  • Anonymous
    April 08, 2010
    Hello Mike,I hope the following article will help you answer your questions. This has worked for me :-)How to use ASP.NET session state SQL Server Mode in a failover clusterhttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/323262Regards,Akshay
  • Anonymous
    December 10, 2010
    For the aspnet_reqsql command using the default database, I think you want to use the flag -sstype p   "c" tells it to use a custom database and requires the -d flag, whereas the "p" tells it to persist the session state and the stored procedures in the default DB.  So it should be:aspnet_regsql -ssadd -S serverName -sstype p –EThanks, it works great.
  • Anonymous
    September 19, 2014
    Thanks, its help a lot