PHP Sessions across sub domains

Question

I am trying to set up the following:

auth.example.com
sub1.example.com
sub2.example.com

If the user visits sub1.example.com or

Answer 1

Had this exact problem - I wanted session values created on x.example.local to be available on example.local and vice-versa.

All solutions I found said to change the Session domain by using php_value session.cookie_domain .example.local in .htaccess (or via php.ini or via ini_set).

The catch was I was setting the session.cookie_domain for all subdomains (so far ok) but also for the main domain. Setting the session.cookie_domain on the main domain is apparently a no-no.

Basically the way it worked for me:

• set the session.cookie_domain for ALL SUBDOMAINS.
• don't set it for the main DOMAIN

Oh yes, please make sure the domain has a TLD (in my case .local). Http protocol doesn't allow cookies/sessions to be stored on a domain without .tld (ie localhost won't work, but stuff.localhost will).

EDIT: Also make sure you always clear your browser cookies while testing/debugging sessions across subdomains. If you don't, your browser will always send the old session cookie which probably doesn't have the correct cookie_domain set yet. The server will revive the old session and therefore you'll get false negative results. (in many posts it's mentioned to use session_name('stuff') for the exact same effect)