Role providers provide the interface between Microsoft ASP.NET's role management service (the "role manager") and role data sources. ASP.NET 2.0 ships with three role providers:

• SqlRoleProvider, which stores role data in Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft SQL Server Express databases
• AuthorizationStoreRoleProvider, which retrieves role information from Microsoft Authorization Manager ("AzMan")
• WindowTokenRoleProvider, which retrieves role information from each user's Microsoft Windows authentication token, and returns his or her group membership(s).

Membership providers provide the interface between Microsoft ASP.NET's membership service and membership data sources. ASP.NET 2.0 ships with two membership providers:

• SqlMembershipProvider, which stores membership data in Microsoft SQL Server and SQL Server Express databases
• ActiveDirectoryMembershipProvider, which retrieves membership data from Microsoft Active Directory