WSS User Accounts

User accounts for WSS users are maintained inside Active Directory, else you simply need to build or acquire an ASP.NET authentication provider that’s been designed to store and manage user accounts in an alternative identity repository such as a SQL Server database.

This architectural enhancement has led WSS 3.0 to gain much wider adoption as a platform for building Internet-facing sites.

For example, ASP.NET 2.0 ships with the forms authentication provider that allows you to maintain user accounts inside a SQL Server database. This authentication provider can be configured for use in a WSS 3.0 site. With little effort on your part, you can put a WSS site on the Internet that allows unknown users to register themselves as members. ASP.NET 2.0 provides you with convenient support for creating and maintaining user accounts, and even allows users to change and reset their passwords. When you use forms authentication, you can use the same programming techniques to manage user accounts in a WSS solution as you would in an ASP.NET 2.0 solution.