The Containment Hierarchy within SharePoint

Figure 2.27 illustrates the numerous levels of hierarchy within SharePoint. Each one of these levels indicates an element that can be secured, can have its own owner, and can be customized individually. The diagram in Figure 2.27 displays this hierarchy in an inverted triangle to represent the inheritance of the changes made at each level. The levels below an individual level will inherit certain changes. For instance, activating a feature on a farm will affect the Web application, site collection, site, lists, and individual items.