ASP.NET Web Site Administration Tool: Difference between revisions

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The '''ASP.NET Web Site Administration Tool''' is an utility provided along with [[Microsoft Visual Studio]] which assists in the [[configuration]] and [[administration]] of a website created singusing [[Microsoft Visual Studio|Microsoft Visual Studio 2005]] and later versions<ref name="msdn_1">{{Cite web|url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/yy40ytx0(vs.80).aspx|title=ASP.NET Web Site Administration Tool|accessdate=2008-05-22|publisher=MSDN Visual Studio 2005 Development Center}}</ref>.

== History ==

The Web Site Administration tool is pretty new considering the fact that it was first introduced with [[ASP.NET 2.0]] along with ASP.NET Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Snap-in<ref name="msdn_2">{{Cite web|url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms178687(VS.80).aspx|title=What's New in ASP.NET Configuration |accessdate=2008-05-22|publisher=MSDN Visual Studio 2005 Development Center}}</ref>.

== Accessing the Tool ==

The Web Site Administration Tool could be accessed by clicking ASP.NET Configuration from the '''Website''' menu. It can also be accessed by clicking on the ASP.NEtNET COnfiguration icon in the Solution Explorer window.

== Features ==

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The security tab is used to create users and roles, group users under different roles and assign access rules either at the role-level or user-level<ref name="security_tab">{{Cite web|url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ssa0wsyf.aspx|title=Web Site Administration Tool Security Tab|accessdate=2008-05-23|publisher=MSDN}}</ref><ref name="expert_asp.net">{{cite book | title=Expert ASP.NET 2.0 Advanced Application Design: Advanced Application Design | url=http://books.google.co.in/books?id=RCVoZfzs6hwC&pg=PA191&lpg=PA191l&source=web&ots=dWcSWieXbi&sig=a6pm4m70IMmwJx5iqTLqenPDciQ&hl=en#PPA192,M1| last=Selly| first=Dominic| coauthors=Andrew Troelsen, Tom Barnaby| date=2005| pages=191| publisher=Apress| id=ISBN:159059522X}}</ref><ref name="webcast_asp.net">{{Cite web|url=http://www.asp.net/LEARN/videos/video-06.aspx|title=Lesson 9: Securing your Web Site with Membership and Login Controls|accessdate=2008-05-23}}</ref><ref name="pro_asp.net">{{cite book | title=Pro ASP.NET 2.0 Website Programming | url=http://books.google.co.in/books?id=zzlhSgGtVe4C&pg=PA2&lpg=PA2&source=web&ots=h1BacPycnu&sig=qQb_EIKRBysBhw6Rr4Vb9jD-Ci8&hl=en#PPA2,M1| last=Armstrong| first=Damon| date=2005| pages=2-6| publisher=Apress| id=ISBN:1590595467}}</ref>. When the Web site administration tool is opened to modify the existing settings, a new database is created in the App_Data folder of the application<ref name="security_tab" />. This database stores ASP.NET membership-related information. The name of the database created is ASPNETDB by default<ref name="security_tab" />.

The security tab simplifies and optimizes user [[authentication]] and [[authorization]]<ref name="security_tab" />. It makes it comparitivelycomparatively easy to configure user permissions than code-based user-defined authentication systems which

require a great amount of time, cost and manpower. However, a major drawback of this tool is that access rules could be defined only at the [[folder|folder-level]] and not at the [[page|page-level]].

=== Web Site Administration Tool Application Tab ===

The Application tab is used to specify application settings, configure [[SMTP]] settings and enable or disable [[debugging]] and [[tracing]] apart from other uses<ref name="expert_asp.net" />. The Application tab interacts with the configuration file of the application ([[web.config]]) and not with the ASPNETDB database<ref name="dotnet_config">{{Cite web|url=http://www.brainbell.com/tutorials/ASP/.NET_Configuration.html|title=.NET Configuration|accessdate=2008-05-23}}</ref>. Application settings are created as objects and inserted as name-value pairs in the web.config file<ref name="dotnet_config" />.

=== Web Site Administration Tool Provider Tab ===

The Provider tab is used to specify the database provider for the ASPNETDB database used to store ASP.NET membership and role information<ref name="expert_asp.net" /><ref name="pro_asp.net" />. The security page does not appear unless and until the database provider is specified in the Providers tab. An SQL Data provider is generally used, but Oracle Data providers are also used in case of Oracle databases. The provider alloows the user the option of choosing a single database to store all data related to the ASP.NET Website Administration tool or different databases for each purpose.

=== Web Site Administration Tool Internals ===