Directory service containers are used to create the structure of a directory service tree.
Because some of the directory service containers are unique to particular namespaces, not all providers need to implement all containers. Definitions are provided within this specification so that the administrator will see a consistent view in the case of a container that is found within two or more namespaces.
The Namespaces object is implemented by Active Directory and comes with the Software Development Kit. The Namespace object must be implemented by all providers. All other container components are optional. Figure 6 illustrates the hierarchy of containers in Active Directory, showing the ADS namespaces object, and two fictitious namespace objects.
Figure 8 - Container Hierarchy