HP-UX Directory Server 8.1 deployment guide

5.2.2 About suffixes
Each database contains the data within a specific suffix of the Directory Server. Both root and
subsuffixes can be created to organize the contents of the directory tree. A root suffix is the entry
at the top of a tree. It can be the root of the directory tree or part of a larger tree designed for the
Directory Server. A subsuffix is a branch beneath a root suffix. The data for root and subsuffixes
are contained by databases.
For example, Example Corp. creates suffixes to represent the distribution of their directory data.
Figure 5-3 Directory tree for Example Corp.
If Example Corp. decided to spread their directory tree across five different databases, the new
tree would appear as follows:
Figure 5-4 Directory tree spread across multiple databases
The resulting suffixes would contain the following entries:
Figure 5-5 Suffixes for a distributed directory tree
5.2 Distributing the directory data 61