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  1. Moodle
  2. MDL-46552

memcached session driver does not support multiple servers

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    • MOODLE_26_STABLE, MOODLE_27_STABLE, MOODLE_28_STABLE
    • MOODLE_26_STABLE, MOODLE_27_STABLE
    • wip_MDL-46552_m28_memcached
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      Note: hacker attitude required, do not ask me for detailed test instructions.

      1/ regression testing - set up memcached session driver with 1 server only

      • try logging in and logging out
      • create a small CLI script that lists sessions in memcached and db 

        <?php
        		 
        define('CLI_SCRIPT', 1);
        		 
        require('config.php');
        		 
        $servers = array();
        		 
        $servers[] = array("127.0.0.1", "11211");
        		 
        $prefix = 'memc.sess.key.';
        		 
        $memcached = new \Memcached();
        		 
        $memcached->addServers($servers);
        		 
        var_dump($memcached->getAllKeys());
        		 
        var_dump($DB->get_records('sessions'));

      • and try following commands in separate script - 

        \core\session\manager::kill_session('somesessionid');
        		 
        \core\session\manager::kill_all_sessions();
        		 
        \core\session\manager::gc(); // you may need to set some very low $CFG->sessiontimeout = 20;

      2/ repeat with two or more servers and verify the session data is deleted from both servers

      Show
      Note: hacker attitude required, do not ask me for detailed test instructions. 1/ regression testing - set up memcached session driver with 1 server only try logging in and logging out create a small CLI script that lists sessions in memcached and db <?php define('CLI_SCRIPT', 1); require('config.php'); $servers = array(); $servers[] = array("127.0.0.1", "11211"); $prefix = 'memc.sess.key.'; $memcached = new \Memcached(); $memcached->addServers($servers); var_dump($memcached->getAllKeys()); var_dump($DB->get_records('sessions')); and try following commands in separate script - \core\session\manager::kill_session('somesessionid'); \core\session\manager::kill_all_sessions(); \core\session\manager::gc(); // you may need to set some very low $CFG->sessiontimeout = 20; 2/ repeat with two or more servers and verify the session data is deleted from both servers

      In Moodle 2.5 and previous, Moodlerooms had a custom patch to support memcached sessions. Session storage capped out at a few hundred megabytes per memcache node. In Moodle 2.6 (and later), we are using the default Core behavior. We are now seeing a dramatic increase of our session storage - roughly 10-20x that usage.

      Moodle has the following snippet of code around session timeouts:

              // Moodle does normal session timeouts, this is for leftovers only.
      		 
              ini_set('session.gc_probability', 1);
      		 
              ini_set('session.gc_divisor', 1000);
      		 
              ini_set('session.gc_maxlifetime', 60*60*24*4);

      This requires your session backend to be dozens of times larger than it needs to be for memcached, based on $CFG->sessiontimeout. For example, if sessiontimeout is set to the default of 2 hours and a user happens to login consistently just after 2 hours, the user will be timed out correctly but there will be orphaned sessions collecting for 4 days, requiring about 48x more session storage than we actually need. This likely explains the huge increase in session storage.

      In MR's previous memcache patch, gc_maxlifetime was actually set to $CFG->sessiontimeout. This makes sense as garbage collection for the session should happen automatically on the memcache server based on the key's TTL, which is set to the same as gc_maxlifetime. However it may not make sense for other session drivers (file, database). It would probably make sense for gc_maxlifetime to be set based on the session driver.

            skodak Petr Skoda
            kstokking Kris Stokking
            Frédéric Massart Frédéric Massart
            Eloy Lafuente (stronk7) Eloy Lafuente (stronk7)
            Rajesh Taneja Rajesh Taneja
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              Created:
              Updated:
              Resolved:

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