Bizarre loss of Session variables

[Michael Carr]

I have an intermittent problem that occurs on a very small number of
browsers that access my website. The strange thing is this: my site works
perfectly for 99.9% of browsers. The behavior described below occurs for
0.1% of users, and so far I've only seen it on IE 6.0.

My ASP.NET website is set up like this:

1. Logon page - Collect username / password and verify against the DB. If
OK, store the UserID in Session["UserID"] and redirect to Main Page

2. Main page - If Session["UserID"] == null, redirect to Logon page,
otherwise display the page. Includes hyperlink to Second Page.

3. Second page - If Session["UserID"] == null, redirect to Logon page,
otherwise display the page.

Here is what happens in these very small number of cases -- the user can
authenticate on the logon page successfully and gets redirected to the Main
Page. However, upon clicking the link to go from the Main Page to the Second
Page, the Session loses the variable and Second Page redirects the user to
the Logon page.

To debug this problem, I added a display of the Session.Session ID + ":" +
Session["UserID"] variables at the bottom of the page. Here are the results:

Logon page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:
Main page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:24665
Second page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:

These results indicate that the SessionID is remaining constant throughout
the test, but that the Server is somehow losing the Session["UserID"]
between the Main Page and Second Page. This would seem to indicate that it
is a server issue, however, it only happens for 0.1% of visitors and with
those particular visitors it is a constant repeatable behavior. I have
instructed those users to delete their cached files and cookies and reboot,
but it didn't help. The users have all the Windows Updates in place.

Has anybody else seen this problem or know of its solution?

Thanks!!
Michael Carr

[Kevin Spencer]

Possibly due to Cookies being turned off in the client browser.

--
HTH,
Kevin Spencer
..Net Developer
Microsoft MVP
Big things are made up
of lots of little things.

"Michael Carr" <mc***@umich.ed u> wrote in message
news:er******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP12.phx.gbl...

I have an intermittent problem that occurs on a very small number of
browsers that access my website. The strange thing is this: my site works
perfectly for 99.9% of browsers. The behavior described below occurs for
0.1% of users, and so far I've only seen it on IE 6.0.

My ASP.NET website is set up like this:

1. Logon page - Collect username / password and verify against the DB. If
OK, store the UserID in Session["UserID"] and redirect to Main Page

2. Main page - If Session["UserID"] == null, redirect to Logon page,
otherwise display the page. Includes hyperlink to Second Page.

3. Second page - If Session["UserID"] == null, redirect to Logon page,
otherwise display the page.

Here is what happens in these very small number of cases -- the user can
authenticate on the logon page successfully and gets redirected to the Main Page. However, upon clicking the link to go from the Main Page to the Second Page, the Session loses the variable and Second Page redirects the user to
the Logon page.

To debug this problem, I added a display of the Session.Session ID + ":" +
Session["UserID"] variables at the bottom of the page. Here are the results:
Logon page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:
Main page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:24665
Second page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:

These results indicate that the SessionID is remaining constant throughout
the test, but that the Server is somehow losing the Session["UserID"]
between the Main Page and Second Page. This would seem to indicate that it
is a server issue, however, it only happens for 0.1% of visitors and with
those particular visitors it is a constant repeatable behavior. I have
instructed those users to delete their cached files and cookies and reboot, but it didn't help. The users have all the Windows Updates in place.

Has anybody else seen this problem or know of its solution?

Thanks!!
Michael Carr

[Shan]

I might not be close to the answer you expect but I have
heard of cases where asp.net applications restarts itself
automatically based on processConfig settings in
machine.config( deadlock handling or something), ALSO IIS 6
in Windows 2003 has a similar kind of functionality where
it can restart applications if its taking memory or
something...in these scenarios you will loose your
sessions...

Thanks,
-Shan

-----Original Message-----
I have an intermittent problem that occurs on a very small number ofbrowsers that access my website. The strange thing is this: my site worksperfectly for 99.9% of browsers. The behavior described below occurs for0.1% of users, and so far I've only seen it on IE 6.0.

My ASP.NET website is set up like this:

1. Logon page - Collect username / password and verify against the DB. IfOK, store the UserID in Session["UserID"] and redirect to Main Page
2. Main page - If Session["UserID"] == null, redirect to Logon page,otherwise display the page. Includes hyperlink to Second Page.
3. Second page - If Session["UserID"] == null, redirect to Logon page,otherwise display the page.

Here is what happens in these very small number of cases - - the user canauthenticate on the logon page successfully and gets redirected to the MainPage. However, upon clicking the link to go from the Main Page to the SecondPage, the Session loses the variable and Second Page redirects the user tothe Logon page.

To debug this problem, I added a display of the Session.Session ID + ":" +Session["UserID"] variables at the bottom of the page. Here are the results:
Logon page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:
Main page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:24665
Second page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:

These results indicate that the SessionID is remaining constant throughoutthe test, but that the Server is somehow losing the Session["UserID"]between the Main Page and Second Page. This would seem to indicate that itis a server issue, however, it only happens for 0.1% of visitors and withthose particular visitors it is a constant repeatable behavior. I haveinstructed those users to delete their cached files and cookies and reboot,but it didn't help. The users have all the Windows Updates in place.
Has anybody else seen this problem or know of its solution?
Thanks!!
Michael Carr
.

[Hermit Dave]

Kevin,

Dont think its the cookies.. cause he's got constant session id.. ie if
cookies are turned off on client browser every request would result a new
session (and a new session id)

Michael,

session used to be the most common place to store data... its still is but
with say forms authentication. .. it removes session from the picture.. and
you authenticate based on a ticket validity... i know its not worth a try
its its only 0.1% users but have a think... (store information in ticket and
you will be able to use HttpContext.Cur rent.User.Ident ity.Name
plus you can application_aut henticatereques t to check and load the values
from the ticket.. and can access it anywhere in your code..
not to forget setting up location elements with allow / deny roles / users
etc...

--
Regards,

HD

"Kevin Spencer" <ke***@takempis .com> wrote in message
news:eO******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP09.phx.gbl...

Possibly due to Cookies being turned off in the client browser.

--
HTH,
Kevin Spencer
.Net Developer
Microsoft MVP
Big things are made up
of lots of little things.

"Michael Carr" <mc***@umich.ed u> wrote in message
news:er******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP12.phx.gbl...

I have an intermittent problem that occurs on a very small number of
browsers that access my website. The strange thing is this: my site works perfectly for 99.9% of browsers. The behavior described below occurs for
0.1% of users, and so far I've only seen it on IE 6.0.

My ASP.NET website is set up like this:

1. Logon page - Collect username / password and verify against the DB. If OK, store the UserID in Session["UserID"] and redirect to Main Page

2. Main page - If Session["UserID"] == null, redirect to Logon page,
otherwise display the page. Includes hyperlink to Second Page.

3. Second page - If Session["UserID"] == null, redirect to Logon page,
otherwise display the page.

Here is what happens in these very small number of cases -- the user can
authenticate on the logon page successfully and gets redirected to the

Main

Page. However, upon clicking the link to go from the Main Page to the

Second

Page, the Session loses the variable and Second Page redirects the user to the Logon page.

To debug this problem, I added a display of the Session.Session ID + ":" + Session["UserID"] variables at the bottom of the page. Here are the

results:

Logon page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:
Main page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:24665
Second page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:

These results indicate that the SessionID is remaining constant throughout the test, but that the Server is somehow losing the Session["UserID"]
between the Main Page and Second Page. This would seem to indicate that it is a server issue, however, it only happens for 0.1% of visitors and with those particular visitors it is a constant repeatable behavior. I have
instructed those users to delete their cached files and cookies and

reboot,

but it didn't help. The users have all the Windows Updates in place.

Has anybody else seen this problem or know of its solution?

Thanks!!
Michael Carr

[Hermit Dave]

Shan,

the worker process is restarted if the total memory consumed by it exceeds
60% of physical memory.
or depending upon the parameters set in the machine.config file

but if the application where to restart then the session id would be
diffent....

--
Regards,

HD

"Shan" <an*******@disc ussions.microso ft.com> wrote in message
news:03******** *************** *****@phx.gbl.. .

I might not be close to the answer you expect but I have
heard of cases where asp.net applications restarts itself
automatically based on processConfig settings in
machine.config( deadlock handling or something), ALSO IIS 6
in Windows 2003 has a similar kind of functionality where
it can restart applications if its taking memory or
something...in these scenarios you will loose your
sessions...

Thanks,
-Shan

-----Original Message-----
I have an intermittent problem that occurs on a very

small number of

browsers that access my website. The strange thing is

this: my site works

perfectly for 99.9% of browsers. The behavior described

below occurs for

0.1% of users, and so far I've only seen it on IE 6.0.

My ASP.NET website is set up like this:

1. Logon page - Collect username / password and verify

against the DB. If

OK, store the UserID in Session["UserID"] and redirect to

Main Page

2. Main page - If Session["UserID"] == null, redirect to

Logon page,

otherwise display the page. Includes hyperlink to Second

Page.

3. Second page - If Session["UserID"] == null, redirect

to Logon page,

otherwise display the page.

Here is what happens in these very small number of cases -

- the user can

authenticate on the logon page successfully and gets

redirected to the Main

Page. However, upon clicking the link to go from the Main

Page to the Second

Page, the Session loses the variable and Second Page

redirects the user to

the Logon page.

To debug this problem, I added a display of the

Session.Session ID + ":" +

Session["UserID"] variables at the bottom of the page.

Here are the results:

Logon page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:
Main page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:24665
Second page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:

These results indicate that the SessionID is remaining

constant throughout

the test, but that the Server is somehow losing the

Session["UserID"]

between the Main Page and Second Page. This would seem to

indicate that it

is a server issue, however, it only happens for 0.1% of

visitors and with

those particular visitors it is a constant repeatable

behavior. I have

instructed those users to delete their cached files and

cookies and reboot,

but it didn't help. The users have all the Windows

Updates in place.

Has anybody else seen this problem or know of its

solution?

Thanks!!
Michael Carr
.

[Michael Carr]

From my understanding about Cookies and Session State, the SessionID is
actually the cookie that is sent from the client to the server for each
request and session variables themselves are actually kept on the server.
So, since my debug routines show the same SessionID for every request, this
would indicate that the browser is indeed sending the correct cookie... am I
correct in my thinking here?

Michael Carr

"Kevin Spencer" <ke***@takempis .com> wrote in message
news:eO******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP09.phx.gbl...

Possibly due to Cookies being turned off in the client browser.

[Karl Shifflett]

This is how I got around this.

I changed the location of the session variables to
stateserver and just used the loopback address for the web
server and fired up the stateserver on the web server and
have not had any problems since.

-----Original Message-----
I have an intermittent problem that occurs on a very small number ofbrowsers that access my website. The strange thing is this: my site worksperfectly for 99.9% of browsers. The behavior described below occurs for0.1% of users, and so far I've only seen it on IE 6.0.

My ASP.NET website is set up like this:

1. Logon page - Collect username / password and verify against the DB. IfOK, store the UserID in Session["UserID"] and redirect to Main Page
2. Main page - If Session["UserID"] == null, redirect to Logon page,otherwise display the page. Includes hyperlink to Second Page.
3. Second page - If Session["UserID"] == null, redirect to Logon page,otherwise display the page.

Here is what happens in these very small number of cases - - the user canauthenticate on the logon page successfully and gets redirected to the MainPage. However, upon clicking the link to go from the Main Page to the SecondPage, the Session loses the variable and Second Page redirects the user tothe Logon page.

To debug this problem, I added a display of the Session.Session ID + ":" +Session["UserID"] variables at the bottom of the page. Here are the results:
Logon page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:
Main page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:24665
Second page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:

These results indicate that the SessionID is remaining constant throughoutthe test, but that the Server is somehow losing the Session["UserID"]between the Main Page and Second Page. This would seem to indicate that itis a server issue, however, it only happens for 0.1% of visitors and withthose particular visitors it is a constant repeatable behavior. I haveinstructed those users to delete their cached files and cookies and reboot,but it didn't help. The users have all the Windows Updates in place.
Has anybody else seen this problem or know of its solution?
Thanks!!
Michael Carr
.

[Kevin Spencer]

Probably, but it might be worth checking out.

--
HTH,
Kevin Spencer
..Net Developer
Microsoft MVP
Big things are made up
of lots of little things.

"Michael Carr" <mc***@umich.ed u> wrote in message
news:OL******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP09.phx.gbl...

From my understanding about Cookies and Session State, the SessionID is
actually the cookie that is sent from the client to the server for each
request and session variables themselves are actually kept on the server.
So, since my debug routines show the same SessionID for every request, this would indicate that the browser is indeed sending the correct cookie... am I correct in my thinking here?

Michael Carr

"Kevin Spencer" <ke***@takempis .com> wrote in message
news:eO******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP09.phx.gbl...

Possibly due to Cookies being turned off in the client browser.

[Karl Shifflett]

Here is my web.config for the state server solution I
provided.

<sessionState
mode="StateServ er"
stateConnection String="tcpip=1 27.0.0.1:42424"
sqlConnectionSt ring="data
source=127.0.0. 1;Trusted_Conne ction=yes"
cookieless="fal se"
timeout="20"
/>

-----Original Message-----
This is how I got around this.

I changed the location of the session variables to
stateserver and just used the loopback address for the webserver and fired up the stateserver on the web server and
have not had any problems since.

-----Original Message-----
I have an intermittent problem that occurs on a verysmall number of

browsers that access my website. The strange thing is

this: my site works

perfectly for 99.9% of browsers. The behavior described

below occurs for

0.1% of users, and so far I've only seen it on IE 6.0.

My ASP.NET website is set up like this:

1. Logon page - Collect username / password and verify

against the DB. If

OK, store the UserID in Session["UserID"] and redirect

toMain Page

2. Main page - If Session["UserID"] == null, redirect toLogon page,

otherwise display the page. Includes hyperlink to Second

Page.

3. Second page - If Session["UserID"] == null, redirect

to Logon page,

otherwise display the page.

Here is what happens in these very small number of

cases -- the user can

authenticat e on the logon page successfully and getsredirected to the Main

Page. However, upon clicking the link to go from the

MainPage to the Second

Page, the Session loses the variable and Second Pageredirects the user to

the Logon page.

To debug this problem, I added a display of the

Session.Sessio nID + ":" +

Session["UserID"] variables at the bottom of the page.

Here are the results:

Logon page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:
Main page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:24665
Second page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:

These results indicate that the SessionID is remaining

constant throughout

the test, but that the Server is somehow losing the

Session["UserID"]

between the Main Page and Second Page. This would seem

toindicate that it

is a server issue, however, it only happens for 0.1% of

visitors and with

those particular visitors it is a constant repeatable

behavior. I have

instructed those users to delete their cached files and

cookies and reboot,

but it didn't help. The users have all the Windows

Updates in place.

Has anybody else seen this problem or know of its

solution?

Thanks!!
Michael Carr
.

.

[JN]

The exact same thing happens to me on this particular
machine.
I have 3 development machines, on 2 of them (one is
Win2000 and the other is XP), the session variables work
fine.
On this machine I'm using, the session variables are lost
in between. The problematic machine is almost a brand new
one, runs on Win2000, with the same memory space as that
of the one that works.
And I don't use cookies (I set cookiesless=tru e).

I'm interested to see how to solve this.

-----Original Message-----
I have an intermittent problem that occurs on a very small number ofbrowsers that access my website. The strange thing is this: my site worksperfectly for 99.9% of browsers. The behavior described below occurs for0.1% of users, and so far I've only seen it on IE 6.0.

My ASP.NET website is set up like this:

1. Logon page - Collect username / password and verify against the DB. IfOK, store the UserID in Session["UserID"] and redirect to Main Page
2. Main page - If Session["UserID"] == null, redirect to Logon page,otherwise display the page. Includes hyperlink to Second Page.
3. Second page - If Session["UserID"] == null, redirect to Logon page,otherwise display the page.

Here is what happens in these very small number of cases - - the user canauthenticate on the logon page successfully and gets redirected to the MainPage. However, upon clicking the link to go from the Main Page to the SecondPage, the Session loses the variable and Second Page redirects the user tothe Logon page.

To debug this problem, I added a display of the Session.Session ID + ":" +Session["UserID"] variables at the bottom of the page. Here are the results:
Logon page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:
Main page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:24665
Second page... vmhgea20gz4azp5 50f203omh:

These results indicate that the SessionID is remaining constant throughoutthe test, but that the Server is somehow losing the Session["UserID"]between the Main Page and Second Page. This would seem to indicate that itis a server issue, however, it only happens for 0.1% of visitors and withthose particular visitors it is a constant repeatable behavior. I haveinstructed those users to delete their cached files and cookies and reboot,but it didn't help. The users have all the Windows Updates in place.
Has anybody else seen this problem or know of its solution?
Thanks!!
Michael Carr
.