1. A method for managing a plurality of hierarchies of data containers from a single native hierarchy, each hierarchy including a plurality of nodes, each node corresponding to a data container, the method comprising the steps of: for each hierarchy that is not the native hierarchy, registering a set of routines for a set of operations, which routines, when invoked, perform one or more operations of the set of operations on one or more data containers in the hierarchy; receiving a user request that indicates a particular operation on a particular data container that does not correspond to a node of the native hierarchy; based on the user request, determining a first operation to perform on a first set of one or more nodes of a first hierarchy that is not the native hierarchy; selecting, from a first set of routines registered for the first hierarchy, a particular routine that corresponds to the first operation; and invoking the particular routine to operate on the first set of one or more nodes.