3.1.1.3.2 Configuration Elements

A configuration element is designed to help with the logical organization of data. It can contain zero, or more configuration elements, configuration properties, and configuration collections.

It provides the means to organize and group together in a functional way a set of otherwise flat configuration properties.

As an example, assume there are anonymous authentication and Windows authentication features that need to store settings. The <anonymousAuthentication> element could store all the settings for anonymous authentication features while the <windowsAuthentication> element could store all the settings for Windows authentication features.

To further organize the settings, the <anonymousAuthentication> and <windowsAuthentication> elements could be grouped together under a configuration element called <authentication>. The <authentication> element can be organized under a parent element called <security>.

 system.webServer
     security
         authentication
             anonymousAuthentication
                 enabled="true"
             windowsAuthentication
                 enabled="false"
  

Fully qualified name for the <anonymousAuthentication> element within the hierarchy of configuration elements would be system.webServer/security/authentication/anonymousAuthentication.