Session Handling: Which Should I Choose?

[eluser]Nalorin[/eluser]
Hi All,


I need to implement sessions into my web application and am having a difficult time deciding which method of handling sessions I should choose. I need to make the decision based on the following information:

Estimated site statistics:
- Average site traffic of ~40K page hits/day
- Peak site traffic of ~200K page hits/day
- Number of registered users: between 150K and 350K
- Services up to ~4M people, Canada-wide (about 10% of population)

Desired application characteristics:
- Fast & Efficient
- No SSL
- Level of security: moderate+
- Ease of implementation: moderately easy
- No sensitive data stored in cookies (preferably)

---

I know that I have a few options to meet my needs with sessions: Native PHP sessions, CodeIgniter Sessions (database or encrypted cookies), and CodeIgniter Native_session, to name a few.

What suggestions would you make regarding sessions for my application and why?

Or, if you don't have any suggestions, what pros/cons can you point out about the implementations listed above or suggested in responses below?

Thanks in advance for your help and input!