Password Protecting Entire Forum

shallowman · Post by **shallowman** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 7:21 pm

Hello everyone,

I am new to PHPbb and am using version 3.0.2. I was wondering if it's possible to password protect the entire forum. Example: let's say my forum is hosted at myforum.com. When a user visits myforum.com instead of seeing the list of available forums, they are presented with a login screen. Once they put in their credentials and are validated, they are shown all of the forums in which they have access to.

Is this possible? If so, can someone point me to some sort of documentation on this topic?

Thanks in advance to all you nice people that are willing to help me out.

jimdunn · Post by **jimdunn** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 7:22 pm

Sounds like you might just need to give Guest Users No Access to your Forums.

Have a look here:
Knowledge Base - phpBB3 Permissions

Please post back if that isn't what you were looking for.

Post by **stevemaury** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 7:31 pm

Yes, this can all be done with permissions. No need to annoy your members with additional passwords.

shallowman · Post by **shallowman** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 7:38 pm

Hey jimdunn,

Thanks so much for your speedy reply. That's exactly what I needed. I really appreciate your help.

Cheers,
shallowman

jimdunn · Post by **jimdunn** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 7:42 pm

shallowman wrote:Hey jimdunn & stevemaury,

Thanks so much for your speedy reply. That's exactly what I needed. I really appreciate your help.

Cheers,
shallowman

There - I fixed that for you (just kidding)

Glad it helped...

pokerscouse · Post by **pokerscouse** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 3:28 pm

As a newbie, I am about to install php3 and am curious about password protecting the forum. I want my site to be subscription based - html page - payment page - access to another html page which contains the main site and the forum. But, surely once someone knows the forum url, they can simply go straight to it and read the content, but not add to it, bypassing the payment page? If I am right, how do I prevent that?

Post by **stevemaury** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 4:34 pm

It can all be done with permissions, so long as you create a separate group for those who have paid. Read

http://www.phpbb.com/kb/article/phpbb3-permissions/

PCTalk · Post by **PCTalk** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 6:20 pm

It could also get quite labor intensive if you have a large user base. You would have to check your member list every day to set and unset permissions for those that had or had not paid. You would also need to determine if you wanted to allow a grace period, i.e., if they have not paid within 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, etc then change their permissions.

For me, it would be too much trouble but, if you are deriving your sole income from forum payment, I suppose it might be worth the effort if enough of your users deem your content worthy.

pokerscouse · Post by **pokerscouse** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 4:11 pm

Thank you pctalk and stevemaury for your responses. Sorry it's taken so long to answer. I've been struggling with phpbb. I uploaded the forum software, but, my server has an old version of php installed, so phpbb will not run and I have no idea how to upload a newer version

I've decided to give it a miss, but thanks for taking the time to reply.

PCTalk · Post by **PCTalk** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 12:20 am

pokerscouse wrote:... my server has an old version of php installed, so phpbb will not run and I have no idea how to upload a newer version ...

If you mean your host, just call them and ask them to upgrade the version of PHP they have on their server to the latest. Once they do that, you should be able to upgrade your forum.

pokerscouse · Post by **pokerscouse** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 7:38 am

I did call them, they said because it is a 'dedicated' server, only we can change what is on it. They refused to do it for us. It's all toooooo complicated!

PCTalk · Post by **PCTalk** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 3:15 pm

pokerscouse wrote:... It's all toooooo complicated!

No, it's just new and unfamiliar. The steps to follow to install new software are spelled out and relatively easy to follow. You just need to decide what is more important.

I would recommend installing the new PHP into its own folder and leave the current installation alone. That way you can get everything set up and running properly without affecting the existing forum. Once everything is working the way you want, switch over to the new software with your current database and remove the old.

Lumpy Burgertushie · Post by **Lumpy Burgertushie** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 5:37 pm

PCTalk wrote:
pokerscouse wrote:... It's all toooooo complicated!
No, it's just new and unfamiliar. The steps to follow to install new software are spelled out and relatively easy to follow. You just need to decide what is more important.

I would recommend installing the new PHP into its own folder and leave the current installation alone. That way you can get everything set up and running properly without affecting the existing forum. Once everything is working the way you want, switch over to the new software with your current database and remove the old.

he is talking about php , not phpbb.
pokercourse,

if you have a dedicated server, then you are responsible for installing any new OS software on it.
If you do not know how to do that, then you will need to find someone that does or pay your host to do it.

I am not sure why someone would be paying for a dedicated server if they do not know how to run it or do not have someone that knows how to run it.
anyway, that is what you will need to do if phpbb3 will not run on your version of php.

robert

PCTalk · Post by **PCTalk** » Sat Aug 23, 2008 4:31 pm

Lumpy Burgertushie wrote:he is talking about php , not phpbb. ...

Which is how I responded, though it may not have appeared to be so.

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