Cookies and Session IDs

A UserID or SessionID (a long character/number string that is uniquely assigned) is often stored in cookie. The SessionID is used as the key or identifier when storing information about the user or session.

For example, a user logs in to a site. If the username and password match, the server sets a cookie ("Set-Cookie") in the browser that contains a session id; the server also makes an entry in website database that maps the session id to the username. When the cookie is returned, the session id is read and the username is looked up in the database.