Updated: November 2007

The Membership class is used by ASP.NET applications to validate user credentials and manage user settings such as passwords and e-mail addresses. The Roles class enables you to manage authorization for your application based on groups of users assigned to roles in the Web application.

Both the Membership class and the Roles class work with providers, classes that access your application's data store to retrieve membership and role information. Membership and role information can be stored in a Microsoft SQL Server database using the SqlMembershipProvider and SqlRoleProvider classes; in an Active Directory using the ActiveDirectoryMembershipProvider and AuthorizationStoreRoleProvider classes, or in a custom data source using implementations of the MembershipProvider and RoleProvider classes.

You configure ASP.NET membership using the membership Element (ASP.NET Settings Schema). When an application using membership is accessed, ASP.NET creates an instance of the Membership class that you can use to query membership information. Provider-specific implementations of the MembershipUser class contain information about the user accessing the page. You can create custom implementations of the MembershipUser class for your application.

You configure ASP.NET roles using the roleManager Element (ASP.NET Settings Schema). ASP.NET creates an instance of the Roles class that contains information about the role membership of the current user.

ASP.NET provides server controls that interact with the Membership class and the Roles class. The Login, CreateUserWizard, and ChangePassword controls work with the Membership class to simplify creating an authenticated Web application, and the LoginView control uses role-specific templates to customize Web pages for specific groups of users.

 Classes

	Class	Description
	ActiveDirectoryMembershipProvider	Manages storage of membership information for an ASP.NET application in Active Directory and Active Directory Application Mode servers.
	ActiveDirectoryMembershipUser	Exposes and updates membership user information stored in an Active Directory data store.
	AnonymousIdentificationEventArgs	Provides data for the AnonymousIdentification_Creating event. This class cannot be inherited.
	AnonymousIdentificationModule	Manages anonymous identifiers for the ASP.NET application.
	AuthorizationStoreRoleProvider	Manages storage of role-membership information for an ASP.NET application in an authorization-manager policy store, either in an XML file, in an Active Directory, or on an Active Directory Application Mode server.
	DefaultAuthenticationEventArgs	Provides data for the DefaultAuthentication_OnAuthenticate event. This class cannot be inherited.
	DefaultAuthenticationModule	Ensures that an authentication object is present in the context. This class cannot be inherited.
	FileAuthorizationModule	Verifies that the user has permission to access the file requested. This class cannot be inherited.
	FormsAuthentication	Manages forms-authentication services for Web applications. This class cannot be inherited.
	FormsAuthenticationEventArgs	Provides data for the FormsAuthentication_OnAuthenticate event. This class cannot be inherited.
	FormsAuthenticationModule	Sets the identity of the user for an ASP.NET application when forms authentication is enabled. This class cannot be inherited.
	FormsAuthenticationTicket	Provides access to properties and values of the ticket used with forms authentication to identify users. This class cannot be inherited.
	FormsIdentity	Represents a user identity authenticated using forms authentication. This class cannot be inherited.
	Membership	Validates user credentials and manages user settings. This class cannot be inherited.
	MembershipCreateUserException	The exception that is thrown when a user is not successfully created by a membership provider.
	MembershipPasswordException	The exception that is thrown when a password cannot be retrieved from the password store.
	MembershipProvider	Defines the contract that ASP.NET implements to provide membership services using custom membership providers.
	MembershipProviderCollection	A collection of objects that inherit the MembershipProvider abstract class.
	MembershipUser	Exposes and updates membership user information in the membership data store.
	MembershipUserCollection	A collection of MembershipUser objects.
	PassportAuthenticationEventArgs	The event argument passed to the Authenticate event by a PassportAuthenticationModule. Since there is already an identity at this point, this is useful mainly for attaching a custom IPrincipal object to the context using the supplied identity. This class is deprecated.
	PassportAuthenticationModule	Provides a wrapper around Passport Authentication services. This class cannot be inherited. This class is deprecated.
	PassportIdentity	Provides a class to be used by PassportAuthenticationModule. It provides a way for an application to access the Ticket method. This class cannot be inherited. This class is deprecated.
	PassportPrincipal	Represents a Passport-authenticated principal. This class is deprecated.
	RoleManagerEventArgs	Provides event data for the GetRoles event of the RoleManagerModule class.
	RoleManagerModule	Manages a RolePrincipal instance for the current user. This class cannot be inherited.
	RolePrincipal	Represents security information for the current HTTP request, including role membership. This class cannot be inherited.
	RoleProvider	Defines the contract that ASP.NET implements to provide role-management services using custom role providers.
	RoleProviderCollection	A collection of objects that inherit the RoleProvider abstract class.
	Roles	Manages user membership in roles for authorization checking in an ASP.NET application. This class cannot be inherited.
	SqlMembershipProvider	Manages storage of membership information for an ASP.NET application in a SQL Server database.
	SqlRoleProvider	Manages storage of role membership information for an ASP.NET application in a SQL Server database.
	UrlAuthorizationModule	Verifies that the user has permission to access the URL requested. This class cannot be inherited.
	ValidatePasswordEventArgs	Provides event data for the ValidatingPassword event of the MembershipProvider class.
	WindowsAuthenticationEventArgs	Provides data for the WindowsAuthentication_OnAuthenticate event. This class cannot be inherited.
	WindowsAuthenticationModule	Sets the identity of the user for an ASP.NET application when Windows authentication is enabled. This class cannot be inherited.
	WindowsTokenRoleProvider	Gets role information for an ASP.NET application from Windows group membership.

 Delegates

	Delegate	Description
	AnonymousIdentificationEventHandler	Represents the method that handles the AnonymousIdentification_Creating event of a AnonymousIdentificationModule.
	DefaultAuthenticationEventHandler	Represents the method that handles the DefaultAuthentication_OnAuthenticate event of a DefaultAuthenticationModule.
	FormsAuthenticationEventHandler	Represents the method that handles the FormsAuthentication_OnAuthenticate event of a FormsAuthenticationModule.
	MembershipValidatePasswordEventHandler	Represents the method that will handle the ValidatingPassword event of the MembershipProvider class.
	PassportAuthenticationEventHandler	Represents the method that handles the PassportAuthentication_OnAuthenticate event of a PassportAuthenticationModule. This class is deprecated.
	RoleManagerEventHandler	Defines the delegate for the GetRoles event of the RoleManagerModule class.
	WindowsAuthenticationEventHandler	Represents the method that handles the WindowsAuthentication_OnAuthenticate event of a WindowsAuthenticationModule.

 Enumerations

	Enumeration	Description
	ActiveDirectoryConnectionProtection	Specifies the connection protection options supported by the ActiveDirectoryMembershipProvider class.
	CookieProtection	Describes how information in a cookie is protected.
	MembershipCreateStatus	Describes the result of a CreateUser operation.
	MembershipPasswordFormat	Describes the encryption format for storing passwords for membership users.

 See Also

Reference

Other Resources

Introduction to Membership

Understanding Role Management