[IRCServices] using a different database for user auth?

[jay]

Hi,

I have an interesting problem. I maintain the server for a large site with a forum and fancy java chat system, currently the logins for the java chat system are linked to the user accounts on the forum, which is vBulletin. I wrot the login stuff myself in PHP.

We'd like to do away with the java chat system for various reasons, and possibly like to replace it with an IRC server. One of the main concerns here is controllung use of nicknames. 

Unfortunately, asking users to create two accounts (one on the forum, one on the IRC server/services) isn't really an option. I must keep the IRC services accounts in sync with the forum ones. 

I have noticed that there is an inport function for the accounts used by Services - I can easily create the XML file from the vBulletin account data for Services to import, however, how should I keep this updated? Should I simply have Services import the current account data every hour or so? 

There are approximately 8,000 accounts on the forum, but I don't expect that more than 500 or so would create an IRC account.

What is the best way to approach this? While I am more than willing to code support for something like this myself, I'm afraid my C/C++ skills are not up to the task at the moment.

Does anyone have any other ideas about how to accomplish this? 

Many thanks,

Charlie