[CodeShark]

Basically I want to set up a site where people have to pay for a membership. I already have a domain and hosting as well as root access. What else do I need to do to get this set up?

It's basically going to be very much like your average porn site, only I won't be offering porn, I'll be offering other exclusive downloads. Can anyone help me find out how to do this?

[lola2001]

You need to upload two files .htaccess and .htpasswd. Open a new notepad file and type in the name of the person for access in this format using your website and the location of your protected files.

AuthUserFile /home/sites/www.yourwebsite.com/web/protected/.htpasswd
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
AuthType Basic
Authname Restricted
<LIMIT GET POST>
require user janedoe
require user johndoe
</LIMIT>

Do not save it as a .txt file. Just SAVE AS and click ALL FILES.

Then go here; http://www.awtrey.com/support/scripts/htpass.php and scroll to the bottom and type in the username and password. Hit OK then at the top copy the DES password entry into the .htpasswd file (notepad again) in this format;

janedoe:IIpWoNfm1VZiw
johndoe:lb6XSCcX0tq5s

And save the same way as before. Upload both files.

[CodeShark]

Is there some way to have it be automated where users can sign up, rather than me having to manually add them?

[lola2001]

Probably but i don't know about it. Sorry.

[Squashman]

Not using htacces as your authentication method. Look at http://www.hotscripts.com

They have links to several scripts that will do this for you.

[Fredledingue]

Wait a minute: If you want to set up a paysite, I think you need to go through an online payement service such as PayPal.
Am I right.

Then this service should give all the infos about that, I suppose.

[CodeShark]

^Yes, I know about that feature in paypal for the business members, but I want to create a site that only allows certain indivduals access to the content (namely, members who pay)