Add period prefix to cookie domain

So, several weeks after moving to a new server it emerges that there is an issue with logging on a certain small group of Chrome browser / operation system combinations. ( Not all versions of chrome / and just windows 8 ) . I am aware that this is probably an issue with Chrome and the way that it handles cookies.

Usually, I'd immediately try changing:
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Add period prefix to cookie domain*

Which is set to true at the moment.

My question really is that on a live store how is that going to effect existing customers? How is that going to effect customers who are actually on-line at the point of change?

It is a busy store but obviously I can make the change in the early hours of the day and avoid having too many people online. Is that the best way of proceeding?

Dr Byte, maybe?

niccol:

My question really is that on a live store how is that going to effect existing customers?

It will have no effect on them.

niccol:

How is that going to effect customers who are actually on-line at the point of change?

The most likely effect of this will be that they'll suddenly be greeted with a 'session expired' type message and will be required to log in again.
If the customers aren't logged it, they'll suffer a 'hiccup' and basically lose anything already placed in their cart and will need to re-add them.

Then there are the unpredictable effects of what could happen if something was being done at exactly the 'wrong' time (such as midway through a paypal payment).

niccol:

It is a busy store but obviously I can make the change in the early hours of the day and avoid having too many people online. Is that the best way of proceeding?

It should only take a few seconds to make the change. My suggestion would be to place the store in maintenance mode for the short time it takes to do this. That way you'll avoid any unpredictable surprises, and it'll be a little less annoying for the customers already on the site.

Cheers
Rod.

RodG:

The most likely effect of this will be that they'll suddenly be greeted with a 'session expired' type message and will be required to log in again.
If the customers aren't logged it, they'll suffer a 'hiccup' and basically lose anything already placed in their cart and will need to re-add them.

Then there are the unpredictable effects of what could happen if something was being done at exactly the 'wrong' time (such as midway through a paypal payment).
Since the setting only affects the creation of subsequent cookies (not the enforcement of any matching, since that's all up to the browser), it should have no effect on existing active shoppers. That is, it won't break active working sessions.

DrByte:

Since the setting only affects the creation of subsequent cookies (not the enforcement of any matching, since that's all up to the browser), it should have no effect on existing active shoppers. That is, it won't break active working sessions.

Yup, this makes sense. I sit corrected.
'Tis getting late.. time for a sleep I think.

Cheers
Rod

Thanks guys.

For users coming after on this one. My method was simply to make the change at a less busy time of day, which probably wasn't even necessary, but always feels safer. I didn't use maintenance mode because that just adds confusion to a change that is pretty much instantaneous.

Results are that we appear to have resolved the issue.

Interesting that on more investigation later yesterday we were also seeing some issues with IE10 on windows 8. Not all variations of this combination but some.

Thanks again.

Hi Guys

niccol:

Results are that we appear to have resolved the issue.
Interesting that on more investigation later yesterday we were also seeing some issues with IE10 on windows 8. Not all variations of this combination but some.

I'm a little curious about this particular issue. It isn't something that any of our customers have ever reported to us, but that doesn't really mean a great deal. I've read similar reports and the same fix from other people, and can't help but wonder, if this is a fix that solves the problem with all browsers, why not make this the default setting?

Does it have some negative consequences that currently elude me?

Cheers
Rod