1.7 Naming contexts

Naming contexts (NCs) are portions of the AD that follow different replication rules they are boundaries for AD replication. The domain NC contains all the data within a domain. The schema NC contains all the classes and attributes and is replicated throughout the forest. The configuration NC contains the topology of the forest and is replicated throughout the forest. The three NCs are replicated to the global catalog either entirely or partially. All NCs have a location in the directory. The root of a domain namespace is its DNS name, and all objects within the domain are children of this root. When the first domain is created, the first DC in the domain generates the configuration NC. This NC is then replicated to all DCs joining the forest.