diff --git a/railties/CHANGELOG b/railties/CHANGELOG
index a2a099155f035..6a3d7ac041c47 100644
--- a/railties/CHANGELOG
+++ b/railties/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 *SVN*
 
+* Added create_session_table, drop_session_table, and purge_session_table as rake tasks for databases that supports migrations (MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite) to get a table for use with CGI::Session::ActiveRecordStore
+
 * Added dump of schema version to the db_structure_dump task for databases that support migrations #1835 [Rick Olson]
 
 * Fixed script/profiler for Ruby 1.8.2 #1863 [Rick Olson]
diff --git a/railties/environments/environment.rb b/railties/environments/environment.rb
index c1da6f5482214..1c3b1219e466c 100644
--- a/railties/environments/environment.rb
+++ b/railties/environments/environment.rb
@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@
   # (by default production uses INFO, the others DEBUG)
   # config.log_level = Logger::DEBUG
 
+  # Use the database for sessions instead of the file system
+  # (create the session table with 'rake create_session_table')
+  # config.session_options[:database_manager] = CGI::Session::ActiveRecordStore
+
   # See Rails::Configuration for more options
 end
 
diff --git a/railties/lib/initializer.rb b/railties/lib/initializer.rb
index fd9f2fb61a6dc..c714b3b621a7a 100644
--- a/railties/lib/initializer.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/initializer.rb
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ def process
       initialize_framework_logging
       initialize_framework_views
       initialize_routing
+      initialize_session_settings
     end
     
     def set_load_path
@@ -94,6 +95,11 @@ def initialize_routing
       ActionController::Routing::Routes.reload
       Object.const_set "Controllers", Dependencies::LoadingModule.root(*configuration.controller_paths)
     end
+    
+    def initialize_session_settings
+      return if !configuration.frameworks.include?(:action_controller)
+      ActionController::CgiRequest::DEFAULT_SESSION_OPTIONS.merge!(configuration.session_options)
+    end
   end
   
   # The Configuration class holds all the parameters for the Initializer and ships with defaults that suites most
@@ -105,6 +111,7 @@ def initialize_routing
   #   Rails::Initializer.run(:process, config)
   class Configuration
     attr_accessor :frameworks, :load_paths, :log_level, :log_path, :database_configuration_file, :view_path, :controller_paths
+    attr_accessor :session_options
     
     def initialize
       self.frameworks       = default_frameworks
@@ -113,6 +120,7 @@ def initialize
       self.log_level        = default_log_level
       self.view_path        = default_view_path
       self.controller_paths = default_controller_paths
+      self.session_options  = default_session_options
       self.database_configuration_file  = default_database_configuration_file
     end
     
@@ -182,5 +190,9 @@ def default_view_path
       def default_controller_paths
         [ File.join(RAILS_ROOT, 'app', 'controllers'), File.join(RAILS_ROOT, 'components') ]
       end
+      
+      def default_session_options
+        {}
+      end
   end
 end
diff --git a/railties/lib/tasks/databases.rake b/railties/lib/tasks/databases.rake
index e7ae234b53d1a..077bfe296a196 100644
--- a/railties/lib/tasks/databases.rake
+++ b/railties/lib/tasks/databases.rake
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ task :clone_structure_to_test => [ :db_structure_dump, :purge_test_database ] do
         ActiveRecord::Base.connection.execute(ddl)
       end
     else 
-      raise "Unknown database adapter '#{abcs["test"]["adapter"]}'"
+      raise "Task not supported by '#{abcs["test"]["adapter"]}'"
   end
 end
 
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ task :db_structure_dump => :environment do
       `scptxfr /s #{abcs[RAILS_ENV]["host"]} /d #{abcs[RAILS_ENV]["database"]} /I /f db\\#{RAILS_ENV}_structure.sql /q /A /r`
       `scptxfr /s #{abcs[RAILS_ENV]["host"]} /d #{abcs[RAILS_ENV]["database"]} /I /F db\ /q /A /r`
     else 
-      raise "Unknown database adapter '#{abcs["test"]["adapter"]}'"
+      raise "Task not supported by '#{abcs["test"]["adapter"]}'"
   end
   
   if ActiveRecord::Base.connection.supports_migrations?
@@ -92,6 +92,30 @@ task :purge_test_database => :environment do
         ActiveRecord::Base.connection.execute(ddl)
       end
     else
-      raise "Unknown database adapter '#{abcs["test"]["adapter"]}'"
+      raise "Task not supported by '#{abcs["test"]["adapter"]}'"
   end
+end
+
+desc "Creates a sessions table for use with CGI::Session::ActiveRecordStore"
+task :create_session_table => :environment do
+  raise "Task unavailable to this database (no migration support)" unless ActiveRecord::Base.connection.supports_migrations?
+
+  ActiveRecord::Base.connection.create_table :sessions do |t|
+    t.column :sessid, :string
+    t.column :data, :text
+    t.column :updated_at, :datetime
+  end
+  
+  ActiveRecord::Base.connection.add_index :sessions, :sessid
+end
+
+desc "Drop the sessions table"
+task :drop_session_table => :environment do
+  raise "Task unavailable to this database (no migration support)" unless ActiveRecord::Base.connection.supports_migrations?
+  
+  ActiveRecord::Base.connection.drop_table :sessions
+end
+
+desc "Drop and recreate the session table (much faster than 'DELETE * FROM sessions')"
+task :purge_session_table => [ :drop_session_table, :create_session_table ] do
 end
\ No newline at end of file