Using PHP $_SESSION variable to store large amonts of data

Question

I\'m currently storing a fair amount of data in the $_SESSION variable. I\'m doing this so I don\'t need to keep accessing the database.

Should I be worried about me

Answer 1

Should I be worried about memory issues on a shared server?

Yes - session data is loaded into the script's memory on every request. Hence, you are at risk of breaking the individual per-script memory limit. Even if you don't hit the limit, this is really inefficient.

Accessing data from the database on demand is much better.

Answer 2

.. in addition to what @Pekka wrote:

PHP sessions an not alternative to a caching solution !

You should investigate if your server has APC available. You should use that on top of layer which accesses information from database (assuming you actually have an OO code).