HELP Joomla newb seeks Sessions info !!! Topic is solved

[JamesST]

Hi all. I am struggling with joomla session intergration.
I have a lots of experience developing with PhPbb and php default session handling. However, i know NOTHING about joomla.

I am tryingto intergrate some webpages from my old site to someone elses site, which uses Joomla. As i know nothing about joomla and dont have the time to really learn it at this time, i cant turn the pages into a component.

What i need is a way to include joomla session data So that.

When a user goes to the index of the tools (the web pages) they are redirected if they are not logged in.
I have tried using the Gloabls $mainframe and $my to determine is user is logged in. I have used @session_start() to start a session, however i think this is just creating a new session.

I cant seem to find, either by looking at joomla code or by searching internet resources, how  joomla is transfering session ids between pages. It doesnt seem to use a url transfer like Phpbb append_sid() i assume it is either using soley cookies OR is using headers, which doesnt sound very secure !!!.

The site i am intergrating into usesthe comprofiler componet to login. Not sure if it hadnles sessions itself or intergrates into joomla session facility.

could someone please explain how joomla sessions are started, how the session id is trasndfered etc, cause i am pretty lost lol
HEELP !