Use the Provider tab to test or assign providers for membership and role management for the Web site. Database providers ...

Use the Provider tab to test or assign providers for membership and role management for the Web site. Database providers are classes that are called to store application data for a particular feature. By default, the Web Site Administration Tool configures and uses a local SQL Server Express database in the App_Data folder for the Web site. Instead, you can choose to use a different provider, such a remote SQL Server database, to store membership and role management.