Roles.CreateRole() creates a new database inside App_Data - asp.net

Question

What could be the reason for Roles.CreateRole("admin") creating a new local database inside App_Data, if my default membership provider is set to use a connection to an actual SQL Server?
I have a connection string like this:
<connectionStrings>
<add name="MembershipDbConnection"
connectionString="Server=.;Initial Catalog=aspnetdb;User Id=*;Password=*" />
</connectionStrings>
and a membership provider defined like this:
<membership defaultProvider="SqlProvider" userIsOnlineTimeWindow="15">
<providers>
<clear />
<add
name="SqlProvider"
type="System.Web.Security.SqlMembershipProvider"
connectionStringName="MembershipDbConnection" <-- this is the connection
/>
</providers>
</membership>
The weird thing is, there is an aspnetdb database (populated with tables) in my SQL Server, and if I use Membership.GetAllUsers(), I get the users in that table without problems. Login also works as expected. But Roles.CreateRole creates a new database.

Answer 1

You need to configure the Role manager section if you want to use roles. It is likely you are picking up the inherited RoleManager section that is using a different connection string.

Answer 2

I think you didn't supply "applicationName" attribute in "membership" and "roleManager" tags in Web.Config. Here is an example: -
<membership>
<providers>
<clear />
<add name="AspNetSqlMembershipProvider" type="System.Web.Security.SqlMembershipProvider" connectionStringName="MembershipDbConnection" applicationName="/" />
</providers>
</membership>
<roleManager enabled="true">
<providers>
<clear />
<add connectionStringName="MembershipDbConnection" applicationName="/" name="AspNetSqlRoleProvider" type="System.Web.Security.SqlRoleProvider" />
<add applicationName="/" name="AspNetWindowsTokenRoleProvider" type="System.Web.Security.WindowsTokenRoleProvider" />
</providers>
</roleManager>

Answer 3

Mansoor Gee's answer provides an excellent template to follow.
Here's a link to documentation of what, and how, should be implemented in the web.config to enable RoleManager:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/vstudio/ms164660(v=vs.100).aspx
Hopefully this will add some context to future readers, as I needed some when I first came across this answer.