[Zope] Password screens

[CURTIS David]

Friends of Zope,

I am needing a password screen so that certain users who can edit a database can "log-in" to Zope and others do not.  Has anyone done this?  If so how does one achieve this?  Can Zope use CGI-BIN  or SSI includes scripts/programs as the password screens.  My system is Redhat Linux 6.0/mysql 3.22/zope 1.10..3
Also,  Zope seems to be slow(at times) when accessing records on mysql.  Are there any performance tricks that can be utilized?
Thanks in advance for any help!