Understanding Sessions: new session for each page request

I monitor visits to our ASP 3.0 web site in order to identify what content
is popular and what is not.

When I look at page visits by IP address ordered by time, I can see the
sequence and frequency of content access and better understand how the site
is being used.

However, one thing I do not understand is the creation of sessions. As I
understand it, a session is created for a user at the time of the first
request. The session persists until it either times out from inactivity or
the user leaves the site.

This is what I see most of the time; a user has a single session for
multiple page requests.

However, it is not uncommon to find a user who creates a new session for
each page request.

It does not appear that they are leaving and returning. Their requests
following a normal access sequence and the times between requests are
relatively short.

In short, they look like all of the other users except that each page
requests initiates a new session.

Does anyone have an idea of what is happening?

Re: Understanding Sessions: new session for each page request

"Dave" wrote in message
news:OF9XeOPFIHA.1208@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> I monitor visits to our ASP 3.0 web site in order to identify what content
> is popular and what is not.
>
> When I look at page visits by IP address ordered by time, I can see the
> sequence and frequency of content access and better understand how the
site
> is being used.
>
> However, one thing I do not understand is the creation of sessions. As I
> understand it, a session is created for a user at the time of the first
> request. The session persists until it either times out from inactivity or
> the user leaves the site.

How does a 'user leave the site'? Normally that be not visiting it anymore
but the session will still persist until it times out/

>
> This is what I see most of the time; a user has a single session for
> multiple page requests.
>
> However, it is not uncommon to find a user who creates a new session for
> each page request.
>
> It does not appear that they are leaving and returning. Their requests
> following a normal access sequence and the times between requests are
> relatively short.
>
> In short, they look like all of the other users except that each page
> requests initiates a new session.
>
> Does anyone have an idea of what is happening?
>

Are we talking about ASP or ASP.NET sessions?

ASP and by default ASP.NET use a session level cookie to affiliate client
requests with an existing session. If the client rejects the cookie it will
not be included in subsequent requests thereby generating a new session each
time ASP(.NET) page is requested.

--
Anthony Jones - MVP ASP/ASP.NET

Re: Understanding Sessions: new session for each page request

On Oct 22, 2:44 pm, "Dave" wrote:
> I monitor visits to our ASP 3.0 web site in order to identify what content
> is popular and what is not.
>
> When I look at page visits by IP address ordered by time, I can see the
> sequence and frequency of content access and better understand how the site
> is being used.
>
> However, one thing I do not understand is the creation of sessions. As I
> understand it, a session is created for a user at the time of the first
> request. The session persists until it either times out from inactivity or
> the user leaves the site.
>
> This is what I see most of the time; a user has a single session for
> multiple page requests.
>
> However, it is not uncommon to find a user who creates a new session for
> each page request.
>
> It does not appear that they are leaving and returning. Their requests
> following a normal access sequence and the times between requests are
> relatively short.
>
> In short, they look like all of the other users except that each page
> requests initiates a new session.
>
> Does anyone have an idea of what is happening?


Is your application using cookie-based sessions. If so, then the user
could be refusing to save cookies, in which case every single request
would result in a new session.

http://blogs.msdn.com/david.wang/archive/2005/09/19/Why-do-I -lose-ASP-Session-State-on-IIS6.aspx

HTTP is inherently stateless, so when you talk about "Sessions" you
are really talking about the behavior of a particular implementation
on top of HTTP -- in which case you must know how your version is
implemented to truly understand its behavior.


//David
http://w3-4u.blogspot.com
http://blogs.msdn.com/David.Wang
//

Re: Understanding Sessions: new session for each page request

Hello,

What session management do you use?

HTTP is stateless, and IIS is not really aware of anything called
sessions. That is something on top of HTTP. So to be able to help you with
this question, we need to know how you have implemented sessions.

Do you use cookies (most common)? If yes, then the user may have disabled
cookies. That would explain what you see.


--
Regards,
Kristofer Gafvert
http://www.gafvert.info/iis/ - IIS Related Info


Dave wrote:

>I monitor visits to our ASP 3.0 web site in order to identify what content
>is popular and what is not.
>
>When I look at page visits by IP address ordered by time, I can see the
>sequence and frequency of content access and better understand how the
>site is being used.
>
>However, one thing I do not understand is the creation of sessions. As I
>understand it, a session is created for a user at the time of the first
>request. The session persists until it either times out from inactivity or
>the user leaves the site.
>
>This is what I see most of the time; a user has a single session for
>multiple page requests.
>
>However, it is not uncommon to find a user who creates a new session for
>each page request.
>
>It does not appear that they are leaving and returning. Their requests
>following a normal access sequence and the times between requests are
>relatively short.
>
>In short, they look like all of the other users except that each page
>requests initiates a new session.
>
>Does anyone have an idea of what is happening?

RE: Understanding Sessions: new session for each page request

Hi Dave,

I just wonder if there is any update regarding to this issue?

Have a nice week.

Sincerely,

WenJun Zhang

Microsoft Online Community Support

==================================================

Get notification to my posts through email? Please refer to:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/managednewsgroups/de fault.aspx#notif
ications.

Note: The MSDN Managed Newsgroup support offering is for non-urgent issues
where an initial response from the community or a Microsoft Support
Engineer within 1 business day is acceptable. Please note that each follow
up response may take approximately 2 business days as the support
professional working with you may need further investigation to reach the
most efficient resolution. The offering is not appropriate for situations
that require urgent, real-time or phone-based interactions or complex
project analysis and dump analysis issues. Issues of this nature are best
handled working with a dedicated Microsoft Support Engineer by contacting
Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS) at:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/support/default.aspx .

==================================================

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.