diff --git a/config/initializers/session_store.rb b/config/initializers/session_store.rb
index 58bf24015c..17a4059f5b 100644
--- a/config/initializers/session_store.rb
+++ b/config/initializers/session_store.rb
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 
 config = OpenProject::Configuration
 
-session_store     = config['session_store'] || :cookie_store
+session_store     = config['session_store'].to_sym || :cookie_store
 relative_url_root = config['rails_relative_url_root'].presence
 
 session_options = {
diff --git a/lib/open_project/configuration.rb b/lib/open_project/configuration.rb
index d60eb686dc..4076700f23 100644
--- a/lib/open_project/configuration.rb
+++ b/lib/open_project/configuration.rb
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ module OpenProject
       'cache_namespace' => nil,
       # use dalli defaults for memcache
       'cache_memcache_server'   => nil,
+      # where to store session data
+      'session_store'           => nil,
       # url-path prefix
       'rails_relative_url_root' => "",