User Session Performance

The default file-based sessions are only suitable for smaller setups, or instances that doesn't have a lot of users or traffic. They are set as default option because it's setup-free solution.

The most common issue of file based sessions are file limit errors which occur if there are lots of session files.

Therefore, in a large scale deployment, to give better performance, scalability, and maintainability we recommend switching from file-based sessions to database-based user sessions or Redis based sessions.

To switch to database-based user sessions uncomment the following section in your :file:`config/_shared/rhodecode.ini` file.

## db based session, fast, and allows easy management over logged in users
beaker.session.type = ext:database
beaker.session.table_name = db_session

# use just one of the following according to the type of database
beaker.session.sa.url = postgresql://postgres:secret@localhost/rhodecode
# or
beaker.session.sa.url = mysql://root:secret@127.0.0.1/rhodecode

beaker.session.sa.pool_recycle = 3600
beaker.session.sa.echo = false

and make sure you comment out the file based sessions.

## types are file, ext:memcached, ext:database, and memory (default).
#beaker.session.type = file
#beaker.session.data_dir = %(here)s/data/sessions/data

The table_name will be automatically created on specified database if it isn't yet existing. Database specified in the beaker.session.sa.url can be the same that RhodeCode uses, or if required it can be a different one. We recommend to use the same database.

To switch to redis-based user sessions uncomment the following section in your :file:`config/_shared/rhodecode.ini` file.

## redis sessions
beaker.session.type = ext:redis
beaker.session.url = localhost:6379

and make sure you comment out the file based sessions.

## types are file, ext:memcached, ext:database, and memory (default).
#beaker.session.type = file
#beaker.session.data_dir = %(here)s/data/sessions/data