Data Stores and Naming Contexts

The directory information is divided into naming contexts. A naming context is a subtree of the directory, and is identified by the DN of the entry at the top of the subtree. A naming context is stored in a physical data store. A data store can hold more than one naming context. A directory server can contain more than one data store.

The naming contexts that identify the data store are called data store suffixes in the Sun Directory Services Admin Console.

When dividing the DIT into naming contexts and data stores to be held on individual servers, you need to take account of the following:

• A search cannot cross naming contexts or data stores. If you want to perform a search in several naming contexts, you have to define referrals between the data stores, or start several simultaneous search operations.

• Alias definitions are local to a naming context.

The Sun Directory Services data store can hold up to four data store suffixes, and one million entries. If you need to store more entries, you can install several data stores, on one or several servers, and create referrals between them. For more information on using Sun Directory Services to store more than one million entries, refer to "Referrals".