SharePoint 2013 Alternate Access Mapping

Alternate Access  Mapping (AAM) is a feature that allows a website to use different URLs. This is usually needed when you have different zones, for example, one for the Intranet and another for an Extranet. I will not cover the network configuration part to setup an alternate URL in the DNS. I assume you already have an alternate URL and you just want to configure the AAM. If you want to read about DNS configuration and how to setup alternate URLs in the DNS, read my upcoming book on SharePoint 2013 (name not decided yet) or wait for another blog post that will explain the process of setting up DNS.

Assuming you have following two URLs, the process to configure AAM is easy.

1.       http://sp2013

2.       http://sp2013.server.com

 

1.       Open Central Admin Site and click Application Management.

2.       Under Web Applications, click Configure alternate access mappings.

3.       You will notice you already have http://sp2013 listed there in the Default zone. To add new URL in the Intranet zone, click Add Internet URLs.

4.       From the Alternate Access Mapping Collection drop down, select correct application that you want to use for the AAM setting and then add URL in the text box labeled URL protocol, host and port, for example, http://sp2013.server.com.  From the Zone dropdown, select Intranet.

5.       Click Save.