public function getAuthenticatingNamespaceObject() {
		if (!isset($this->options['auth_ns']))
			throw new \Exception("Missing 'auth_ns' configuration option.");

		$namespaceCoid = COIDParser::fromString($this->options['auth_ns']);
		if (COIDParser::getType($namespaceCoid) != COIDParser::COID_ROOT)
			throw new \Exception("The 'auth_ns' configuration option is not a valid namespace/root COID.");
		
		return $this->getObject($namespaceCoid);
	}