Hi tsrwebman.

I'm a little confused by some of the terminology you're using here, so that is going to cloud an answer a bit. For example tsrwebman wrote:

part of the website is public - no blog access here
part of the website is private and uses a membership login system based on ...(snip)...

I am thinking this could be an issue if I load b2e in this area,
but could launch new 'blog window' in different folder.
...

Blog window? Folder?

Let's get to a bottom line maybe. If you want ONLY people who are logging in through your security system to see the blog then keep the entire b2evolution installation inside the secure area. The things that look like folders in URLs in b2evolution are completely faked.

tsrwebman wrote:

There would be only 1 blog - with all members able to view/post and administrator to view/post/edit/delete etc.

I'm not sure the permissions get that granular. Not sure being key, but it might get a little tricky. Wait maybe not. If everyone can view and post but only The Admin or members of the Administrators group can edit then that'll be easy.

tsrwebman wrote:

Would individuals have their own individual login to the blog and access a common blog?

Yes. Even though they already logged in via a firewall they will still have to have an account and log in to b2evolution. b2evo will then bake up a special cookie for the blog bit inside the secure bit. I suppose it is possible to have magic code say "once someone logs in to the secure bit make them automagically be logged in to the blog bit" but heck just tell 'em to register and never log out and there you go. Oh and up the cookie lifespan in b2evo from 2 weeks to a million infinities or something like that.

tsrwebman wrote:

Any thoughts?

I think these pants make me look fat :(

thanks for that - since posting I have had a play with b2e and I have found it impossible to set up in my members area, this is because every page need to access session data to check that access is authorised, and to find and modify every page in the b2e project would be a major task.

I dont rule it out yet - I might keep it in a seperate area using its own security, but this adds management issues - having to maintain to membership lists with duplicate data - not to mention issues with Data Protection Registration

Allan