# Session id changing for each request **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [August 19, 2008, 12:46pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/session-id-changing-for-each-request/146243 "2008-08-19T12:46:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jamie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/aca169/32.png) [@jamie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jamie)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 12:46pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/session-id-changing-for-each-request/146243/1 "2008-08-19T12:46:31Z")
I posted this a little while back, but was unable to resolve the problem, so keeping my fingers crossed that other have some insight… Some percentage of users are unable to login as it appears the rails session ID changes at each request. Note: these users do have cookies turned on - though it behaves as if they do not. I tried moving the session store from file based to active record based, but I am not convinced this fixes the problem as this does not prevent the ID from changing. One thing I did find was that when I changed the env from pound balancing behind three processes to a single mongrel process in the front, the problem disappears. ---
**Author:** ![jamie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/aca169/32.png) [@jamie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jamie)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 1:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/session-id-changing-for-each-request/146243/2 "2008-08-19T13:00:02Z")
one note: I am running RAILS 1.2.3 ---
**Author:** ![jamie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/aca169/32.png) [@jamie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jamie)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 2:46pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/session-id-changing-for-each-request/146243/3 "2008-08-19T14:46:13Z")
jamie wrote: > one note: I am running RAILS 1.2.3 Hi Jamie, I experienced this problem before and it was because a cookie was not getting created. In my case, it was only on Safari and it turned out to be because I had an underscore in the hostname part of the URL. For example, http://my\_host.mydomain.com An underscore in the host is not per RFC, so Safari was doing the right thing by not creating the cookie (but unfortunately it shouldn’t have displayed the website either, which apparently was a bug). Firefox created the cookie just fine. If your hostname doesn’t have an underscore, the idea might still lead you to the problem. It’s most likely that the cookie is not getting created for _some_ reason. Peace, Phillip ---
**Author:** ![jamie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/aca169/32.png) [@jamie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jamie)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/session-id-changing-for-each-request/146243/4 "2008-08-19T17:55:25Z")
Unfortunately I do not have an underscore in the host name…also I wonder what would explain why only a percentage of users are experiencing this problem On Aug 19, 8:46 am, Phillip K. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![jamie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/aca169/32.png) [@jamie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jamie)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 6:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/session-id-changing-for-each-request/146243/5 "2008-08-19T18:45:58Z")
I had a similar problem and it had to do with the links the user’s where clicking on and how these links were coded. When the problem occurred I had links that where using pure HTML code, like link here. When the user’s clicked on these particular links, the Session ID changed and it made them log in again. Once I changed the links to \<%= link\_to “link here” %\> ruby calls, the Session ID stayed the same and was carried over properly, without prompting the user to log in again. Might not be your particular problem, but maybe something to get your mind thinking … Good-luck!! LAB ---
**Author:** ![jamie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/aca169/32.png) [@jamie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jamie)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 7:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/session-id-changing-for-each-request/146243/6 "2008-08-19T19:17:40Z")
Thanks LAB…but I don’t think this is my problem as it does not explain why it occurs for a subset of users… one thing I did uncover using pound for load balancing was errors in my pound log - for each request that did not receive that did not get the session id returned the following entry appeared - line too long: Cookie:xxxxxx