How can server-side settings like safe_mode affect session handling in PHP?

Server-side settings like safe_mode can affect session handling in PHP by restricting the access to certain directories where session data is stored. This can lead to session data not being saved or retrieved properly, causing issues with user authentication and data persistence. To solve this issue, you can manually specify a directory where session data should be stored using the session.save_path directive in your PHP configuration.

// Set the session save path to a directory accessible under safe_mode
ini_set('session.save_path', '/path/to/writable/directory');

// Start the session
session_start();