Directory Partition

A contiguous subtree of the directory that forms a unit of replication. A given replica is always a replica of some directory partition. The directory always has at least three directory partitions:

• The schema, which defines the object classes and attributes contained in Active Directory.
• The configuration, which identifies the domain controllers, replication topology and other related information about the domain controllers within a specific implementation of Active Directory.
• One or more domains that contain the actual directory object data.

A domain controller always stores the partitions for the schema, configuration, and its own (and no other) domain. The schema and configuration are replicated to every domain controller in the domain tree or forest. The domain is replicated only to domain controllers for that domain. A subset of the attributes for all domain objects is replicated to the global catalog.