ASP.NET uses provider classes to manage data storage for various features, such as membership and role management. A provider ...

ASP.NET uses provider classes to manage data storage for various features, such as membership and role management. A provider class is a component that exposes specific ASP.NET functionality, such as managing user accounts in membership. Each of these application features requires data storage. Although each provider class performs the same application features, each provider class can store data in different ways. For example, different provider classes for ASP.NET membership might store user account information in the following different ways: