Validates user credentials and manages user settings. This 
class cannot be inherited.



Creating new users.

Storing membership information (user names, passwords, e-
mail addresses, and supporting data) in Microsoft SQL 
Server or in an alternative data store.

Authenticating users who visit your site. You can 
authenticate users programmatically, or you can use the 
Login control to create a complete authentication system 
that requires little or no code.

Managing passwords, which includes creating, changing, 
retrieving, and resetting them, and so on. You can 
optionally configure ASP.NET membership to require a 
password question and answer to authenticate password reset 
or retrieval requests for users that have forgotten their 
password.

Although ASP.NET membership is a self-standing feature in 
ASP.NET For authentication, it can be integrated with 
ASP.NET role management to provide authorization services 
for your site. Membership can also be integrated with the 
ASP.NET user System.Web.Profile to provide application-
specific customization that can be tailored to individual 
users. For details, see Understanding Role Management and 
ASP.NET Profile Properties Overview.

The Membership class relies on membership providers to 
communicate with a data source. The .NET Framework includes 
a SqlMembershipProvider, which stores user information in a 
Microsoft SQL Server database, and an 
ActiveDirectoryMembershipProvider, which enables you to 
store user information on an Active Directory or Active 
Directory Application Mode (ADAM) server. You can also 
implement a custom membership provider to communicate with 
an alternative data source that can be used by the 
Membership class. Custom membership providers inherit the 
MembershipProvider abstract class. For more information, 
see Implementing a Membership Provider.

By default, ASP.NET membership is enabled for all ASP.NET 
applications. The default membership provider is the 
SqlMembershipProvider and is specified in the machine 
configuration with the name AspNetSqlProvider. The default 
instance of the SqlMembershipProvider is configured to 
connect to a local instance of Microsoft SQL Server.

You can modify the default settings to specify a 
SqlMembershipProvider other than the AspNetSqlProvider 
instance as the default provider, or specify an instance of 
a custom provider as the default provider for your ASP.NET 
application using the Web.config file. You can specify the 
ASP.NET membership configuration for your Web application 
using the membership configuration section in the 
Web.config file. You can use the providers subsection of 
the membership section to specify a membership provider 
other than one of the default providers. For example, the 
following membership section removes the default membership 
providers from the current application configuration and 
adds a new provider with a name of SqlProvider that 
connects to a SQL Server instance named AspSqlServer.