diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile b/docker/Dockerfile
index 7645d0c8..10862cce 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -5,8 +5,10 @@ RUN docker-php-source extract \
 	&& docker-php-source delete
 
 # Java is necessary for the direct calls to the evaluation engine (in Api_splits.php)
+# cron is needed for garbage collection
 RUN apt update \
-    && apt install -y --no-install-recommends openjdk-11-jre 
+    && apt install -y --no-install-recommends openjdk-11-jre \
+    && apt install -y cron
 
 COPY . /var/www/openml
 RUN mv /var/www/openml/openml_OS/config/BASE_CONFIG-BLANK.php /var/www/openml/openml_OS/config/BASE_CONFIG.php
@@ -21,6 +23,12 @@ COPY docker/config/api.conf /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default.conf
 COPY docker/config/php.ini /usr/local/etc/php/
 COPY docker/config/.htaccess /var/www/openml/.htaccess
 
+COPY docker/garbage-collection/cron /etc/cron.d/garbage-collection
+RUN chmod +x /etc/cron.d/garbage-collection
+RUN crontab /etc/cron.d/garbage-collection
+RUN touch /var/log/garbage-collection.log
+RUN chmod +x /var/www/openml/docker/garbage-collection/sessionclean.sh
+
 COPY docker/set_configuration.sh /scripts/
 
 
diff --git a/docker/config/php.ini b/docker/config/php.ini
index 6f97900d..fa0d0227 100644
--- a/docker/config/php.ini
+++ b/docker/config/php.ini
@@ -330,7 +330,8 @@ serialize_precision = -1
 ; This directive allows you to disable certain functions.
 ; It receives a comma-delimited list of function names.
 ; https://php.net/disable-functions
-disable_functions =
+; 2025-06-20 (Jos) - changed to reflect list on current production
+disable_functions = pcntl_alarm,pcntl_fork,pcntl_waitpid,pcntl_wait,pcntl_wifexited,pcntl_wifstopped,pcntl_wifsignaled,pcntl_wifcontinued,pcntl_wexitstatus,pcntl_wtermsig,pcntl_wstopsig,pcntl_signal,pcntl_signal_get_handler,pcntl_signal_dispatch,pcntl_get_last_error,pcntl_strerror,pcntl_sigprocmask,pcntl_sigwaitinfo,pcntl_sigtimedwait,pcntl_exec,pcntl_getpriority,pcntl_setpriority,pcntl_async_signals,
 
 ; This directive allows you to disable certain classes.
 ; It receives a comma-delimited list of class names.
@@ -407,7 +408,8 @@ zend.exception_string_param_max_len = 0
 ; threat in any way, but it makes it possible to determine whether you use PHP
 ; on your server or not.
 ; https://php.net/expose-php
-expose_php = On
+; 2025-06-20 (Jos) - As in current production, do not expose
+expose_php = Off
 
 ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
 ; Resource Limits ;
@@ -416,7 +418,8 @@ expose_php = On
 ; Maximum execution time of each script, in seconds
 ; https://php.net/max-execution-time
 ; Note: This directive is hardcoded to 0 for the CLI SAPI
-max_execution_time = 30
+; 2025-06-20 (Jos) - changed to reflect current production limit
+max_execution_time = 300
 
 ; Maximum amount of time each script may spend parsing request data. It's a good
 ; idea to limit this time on productions servers in order to eliminate unexpectedly
@@ -426,7 +429,8 @@ max_execution_time = 30
 ; Development Value: 60 (60 seconds)
 ; Production Value: 60 (60 seconds)
 ; https://php.net/max-input-time
-max_input_time = 60
+; 2025-06-20 (Jos) - changed to reflect current production limit
+max_input_time = 600
 
 ; Maximum input variable nesting level
 ; https://php.net/max-input-nesting-level
@@ -710,7 +714,8 @@ auto_globals_jit = On
 ; Its value may be 0 to disable the limit. It is ignored if POST data reading
 ; is disabled through enable_post_data_reading.
 ; https://php.net/post-max-size
-post_max_size = 8M
+; 2025-06-20 (Jos) - changed to reflect upload_max_filesize on current production - although post_max_size=0 on PROD, meaning that you can send a large (endless?) amount of 16Gb files
+post_max_size = 16G
 
 ; Automatically add files before PHP document.
 ; https://php.net/auto-prepend-file
@@ -862,7 +867,8 @@ file_uploads = On
 
 ; Maximum allowed size for uploaded files.
 ; https://php.net/upload-max-filesize
-upload_max_filesize = 2M
+; 2025-06-20 (Jos) - Same max_filesize as in current production
+upload_max_filesize = 16G
 
 ; Maximum number of files that can be uploaded via a single request
 max_file_uploads = 20
@@ -890,7 +896,8 @@ allow_url_include = Off
 
 ; Default timeout for socket based streams (seconds)
 ; https://php.net/default-socket-timeout
-default_socket_timeout = 60
+; 2025-06-20 (Jos) - Same default timeout as the current production
+default_socket_timeout = 480
 
 ; If your scripts have to deal with files from Macintosh systems,
 ; or you are running on a Mac and need to deal with files from
@@ -1448,7 +1455,8 @@ session.serialize_handler = php
 ; Development Value: 1
 ; Production Value: 1
 ; https://php.net/session.gc-probability
-session.gc_probability = 1
+; 2025-06-20 (Jos) - As in current production, we will run garbage collection manually, to avoid 1/1000th chance of 2sec delay (TODO, DONT MERGE LIKE THIS!!)
+session.gc_probability = 0
 
 ; Defines the probability that the 'garbage collection' process is started on every
 ; session initialization. The probability is calculated by using gc_probability/gc_divisor,
diff --git a/docker/garbage-collection/collect-garbage.php b/docker/garbage-collection/collect-garbage.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0075a57a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/garbage-collection/collect-garbage.php
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+<?php
+gc_collect_cycles();
+?>
diff --git a/docker/garbage-collection/cron b/docker/garbage-collection/cron
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4481ec42
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/garbage-collection/cron
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+* * * * * /usr/local/bin/php /var/www/openml/docker/garbage-collection/collect-garbage.php && /var/www/openml/docker/garbage-collection/sessionclean.sh >> /var/log/garbage-collection.log 2>&1
diff --git a/docker/garbage-collection/sessionclean.sh b/docker/garbage-collection/sessionclean.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4896f7d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/garbage-collection/sessionclean.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#!/bin/sh -e
+# Just simply deleting code igniter's session files if they're older than $GC_MAXLIFETIME_MINUTES
+# I've tried just using 
+# session_start();
+# session_gc();
+# session_destroy();
+# But that does not delete any code igniter sessions, although it should according to the documentation I could find.
+# In the end, I just settled for this. If you want to make it more beautiful, note that code igniter config can be partly found in
+# openml_OS/config/config.php (e.g., 'sess_expiration' which seems to overwrite the session.gc_maxlifetime in php.ini)...
+
+
+GC_MAXLIFETIME_SECONDS=$(/usr/local/bin/php -r "echo ini_get(\"session.gc_maxlifetime\");")
+GC_MAXLIFETIME_MINUTES=$((($GC_MAXLIFETIME_SECONDS + 59) / 60))  # Ceil
+GC_SAVEPATH="/tmp"
+
+find -O3 "$GC_SAVEPATH" -ignore_readdir_race -depth -mindepth 1 -name 'ci_session*' -type f -cmin "+$GC_MAXLIFETIME_MINUTES" -delete
diff --git a/docker/set_configuration.sh b/docker/set_configuration.sh
index b579dff6..2a012415 100755
--- a/docker/set_configuration.sh
+++ b/docker/set_configuration.sh
@@ -40,4 +40,5 @@ done
 cd /var/www/openml
 php index.php cron build_es_indices
 
+/usr/sbin/cron -l 4
 apache2-foreground