How to authenticate users against my Invision Power Board member database

Problem:

I want to authenticate users against my Invision Power Board member database, and restrict access only to members.

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Solution:

Log into your ParaChat service administration web page, and click the USERS & DATABASES tab. Under "Member Database Users" in the left navigation, click "External Database Connection". Set "Use HTTP User Authentication" to "Enabled".

For "URL of Web Authentication", input your message board's user authentication URL. Your Invision Power Board already includes the file needed to authenticate members into the chat room. The file is found under .../retail/chatauth.php. Therefore, the URL of User Authentication would be the main web page of your Invision Power Board, appended by .../retail/chatauth.php. For example, if your message board is running at http://www.webpage.com/forum, then your URL of User Authentication would be http://www.webpage.com/forum/retail/chatauth.php. Save your edits.

To restrict access only to your Invision Power Board members, click the SITE tab. Under "Site Settings" in the left navigation, click the "Site-Wide Limits" link. Set "Require Valid User Name and Password" to "Enabled", and save your edit.

See also:
How to assign which user groups have chat room access
I see the "Site ID does not exist on the chat server" message