Windows SharePoint Services v3 RTM - A Basic Installation

I went ahead and downloaded the RTM of WSS v3 last night and did a basic install on a clean vpc.  I chose "Basic" because it was the quickest way to get the environment up to take a quick look at some of the changes since Beta2TR since it installs it with a set of default settings which I can't seem to find documented anywhere.  More on that in another post (well, maybe).

The basic install uses SQL Server 2005 Embedded Edition.  I know very little about this "edition" of SQL Server 2005.  What I have noticed is that I can't seem to find a way to connect to it outside of SharePoint.  This concerns me in such a way that if I wanted to use forms authentication, how do I set up the ASP.NET Membership and Roles database?  Will I be able to do that with this edition or do I have to move to SQL Server Express edition?

Here are the steps to install WSS v3, very simple but I thought I would post them anyways.

1 - Download the WSS vs installer from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=D51730B5-48FC-4CA2-B454-8DC2CAF93951&displaylang=en.

2 - Run the installer.

3 - Accept the EULA.

2 - Choose a Basic installation.

3 - Watch the progress bar.

4 - Look at the nice WSS screen that does not have the word Beta in it.

5 - Click Close and the SharePoint Products and Technologies Wizard launches.

6 - Tell the installer that you don't mind if it starts and stops some services.

7 - Watch the installer go thru its 10 "steps", as outlined below (if you are curious).  2 is the longest.

8 - If all goes well, and it should on a clean server, you should see the Configuration Successful screen.

9 - Browse to http://servername (if it doesn't pop up automatically open, I can't remember if it does) and voila, your default Team Site appears.

10 - Check out the version!

11 - Regarding the SQL Server 2005 Embedded Edition, check this out.

There you go!  Your Central Administration port is completely random, so you will have to check it in IIS or launch it from Administrative Tasks to determine that.  If you can guess, let me know.

If anyone knows if it is possible to connect to the SQL Server 2005 Embedded Edition instance to create the ASP.NET Membership and Roles database, please do let me know.  I installed Management Studio Express and could not.  The error informed me that remote connections are not allowed even though I was trying to hit it locally, on the server.  I searched thru the Program Files folders for the SQL Server installation and could not find a tool to change that setting, that you would normally find in the SQL Server 2005 Surface Area Configuration tool on other editions.