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Session storage framework

As of version 8.6, TYPO3 comes with the option to choose between different storages for both frontend end backend user sessions (called session backends). Previously, all sessions were stored in the database in the tables fe_sessions, fe_session_data and be_sessions respectively.

The Core ships two session backends by default: - Database storage - Redis storage

By default user sessions are still stored in the database using the database storage backend, but the former table fe_session_data is obsolete and has therefore been removed.

Database storage backend

The database storage backend only requires two configuration options: The table name (table option) and whether anonymous sessions (has_anonymous option) may be stored.

The default configuration used for sessions by the Core is:

'SYS' => [
    'session' => [
        'BE' => [
            'backend' => \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Session\Backend\DatabaseSessionBackend::class,
            'options' => [
                'table' => 'be_sessions'
            ]
        ],
        'FE' => [
            'backend' => \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Session\Backend\DatabaseSessionBackend::class,
            'options' => [
                'table' => 'fe_sessions',
                'has_anonymous' => true,
            ]
        ]
    ],
],

Using Redis to store sessions

TYPO3 also comes with the possibility to store sessions in a Redis key-value database.

Note

This requires a running Redis instance (refer to the Redis documentation for help on this) and the PHP extension "redis" to be installed.

The Redis session storage can be configured with LocalConfiguration.php in the SYS entry:

A sample configuration will look like this:

'SYS' => [
    'session' => [
        'BE' => [
            'backend' => \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Session\Backend\RedisSessionBackend::class,
            'options' => [
                'hostname' => 'redis.myhost.example',
                'password' => 'passw0rd',
                'database' => 0,
                'port' => 6379
            ]
        ],
        'FE' => [
            'backend' => \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Session\Backend\RedisSessionBackend::class,
            'options' => [
                'hostname' => 'redis.myhost.example',
                'password' => 'passw0rd',
                'database' => 0,
                'port' => 6379
            ]
        ],
    ],
],

The available options are:

hostname: Name of the server the redis database service is running on. Default: 127.0.0.1
port: Port number the redis database service is listening to. Default: 6379
database: The redis database number to use. Default: 0
password: The password to use when connecting to the specified database. Optional.

Tip

If a Redis instance is running on the same machine as the webserver the hostname 'localhost' can be used instead.

Writing your own session storage

Custom sessions storage backends can be created by implementing the interface \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Session\Backend\SessionBackendInterface . The doc blocks in the interface describe how the implementing class must behave. Any number of options can be passed to the session backend.

A custom session storage backend can be used like this (similarly to the Redis backend):

'SYS' => [
    'session' => [
        'FE' => [
            'backend' => \Vendor\Sessions\MyCustomSessionBackend::class,
            'options' => [
                'foo' => 'bar',
            ]
        ],
    ],
],

References

The Redis documentation https://redis.io/documentation