Where does the Session Variables gets Stored?

Session variables are stored in a SessionStateItemCollection object that is exposed through the HttpContext.Session property.

In an ASP.NET page, the current session variables are exposed through the Session property of the page object.

Sessions are identified by a unique identifier that can be read by using the SessionID property. When session state is enabled for an ASP.NET application, each request for a page in the application is examined for a SessionID value sent from the browser. If no SessionID value is supplied, ASP.NET starts a new session and the SessionID value for that session is sent to the browser with the response.

By default, SessionID values are stored in a cookie. However, you can also configure the application to store SessionID values in the URL for a "cookieless" session.


By default, the SessionID value is stored in a non-expiring session cookie in the browser. However, you can specify that session identifiers should not be stored in a cookie by setting the cookieless attribute to true in the sessionState section of the Web.config file.




<Configuration><system.web><sessionState cookieless="true" regenerateExpiredSessionId="true" /></system.web></Configuration>

Different Session-State Modes

ASP.NET session state supports several different storage options for session data.

1.       InProc mode, which stores session state in memory on the Web server. This is the default.
2.       StateServer mode, which stores session state in a separate process called the ASP.NET state service. This ensures that session state is preserved if the Web application is restarted and also makes session state available to multiple Web servers in a Web farm.
3.       SQLServer mode stores session state in a SQL Server database. This ensures that session state is preserved if the Web application is restarted and also makes session state available to multiple Web servers in a Web farm.
4.      Custom mode, which enables you to specify a custom storage provider.
5.      Off mode, which disables session state.

 In-Process Mode

In-process mode is the default session state mode and is specified using the InProc SessionStateMode enumeration value. In-process mode stores session state values and variables in memory on the local Web server. It is the only mode that supports the Session_OnEnd event

StateServer mode

StateServer mode stores session state in a process, referred to as the ASP.NET state service, that is separate from the ASP.NET worker process or IIS application pool. Using this mode ensures that session state is preserved if the Web application is restarted and also makes session state available to multiple Web servers in a Web farm.

To use StateServer mode, you must first be sure the ASP.NET state service is running on the server used for the session store. The ASP.NET state service is installed as a service when ASP.NET and the .NET Framework are installed. The ASP.Net state service is installed at the following location:

systemroot\Microsoft.NET\Framework\versionNumber\aspnet_state.exe

SQL Server Mode

SQLServer mode stores session state in a SQL Server database. Using this mode ensures that session state is preserved if the Web application is restarted and also makes session state available to multiple Web servers in a Web farm.

To use SQLServer mode, you must first be sure the ASP.NET session state database is installed on SQL Server. You can install the ASP.NET session state database using the Aspnet_regsql.exe tool

Example

<configuration>  <system.web>    <sessionState mode="SQLServer" sqlConnectionString="Integrated Security=SSPI;data <br>        source=SampleSqlServer;" /><br>  </system.web> </configuration>



Custom Mode

Custom mode specifies that you want to store session state data using a custom session state store provider. When you configure your ASP.NET application with a Mode of Custom, you must specify the type of the session state store provider using the providers sub-element of the sessionState configuration element. 

You specify the provider type using an add sub-element and include both a type attribute that specifies the provider's type name and a name attribute that specifies the provider instance name. 

The name of the provider instance is then supplied to the customProvider attribute of the sessionState element to configure ASP.NET session state to use that provider instance for storing and retrieving session data.

Examples

<br><configuration>  <connectionStrings>    <add name="OdbcSessionServices"       connectionString="DSN=SessionState;" /></connectionStrings>  <system.web>    <sessionState       mode="Custom"      customProvider="OdbcSessionProvider">     <providers>        <add name="OdbcSessionProvider"          type="Samples.AspNet.Session.OdbcSessionStateStore" connectionStringName="OdbcSessionServices"           writeExceptionsToEventLog="false" />      </providers>   </sessionState><br>  </system.web> </configuration>