The mechanism provides tools and techniques for administering a directory tree of a directory service database by automatically placing user objects in containers and placing containers on servers, without direct instructions from a user. Methods of the mechanism use a hash function to hash a user ID to obtain a proposed directory tree location, and then place a user object for the user at the proposed location. The hash function results may be stored within an email address of the user for later reference. Some methods of the invention also automatically divide containers of the tree between servers, and some automatically move subtrees of user objects into a new partition when a server or server pair is added to a system that stores the directory tree. Similar systems and configured storage media are also provided by the invention to perform user object placement tasks.