Configure alternate access mappings for SharePoint 2013

So you have setup your internal SharePoint site with an application and a site collection using a FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name). You will always have that one user (or in my case - more than one) who doesn't want to enter the FQDN in the IE address bar. Well, we have the solution for those users!

This article applies to SharePoint Server 2012 and SharePoint Foundation 2013

You can configure alternate access mappings (AAM).

Lets assume that FQDN of your SharePoint site is portal.example.com, and you have created the site with the that exact host header.

First, open IIS manager, and select your SharePoint site. Click on the 'bindings' option on the right, and add a new binding, using only the hostname (or CNAME if you are using it). Now you should see two host headers: 'portal.example.com' and 'portal' - not bound to any single IPs.

Now, open the Central Administration portal, and follow these steps:

• On the SharePoint Central Administration website, go to System Settings→Farm Management→Configure alternate access mappings
• Click (and select) your collection on the right (Alternate Access Mapping Collection)
• Now click Add Internal URLs
• Enter your URL here (in our case http://portal)
• Click Save

You're all set! If your DNS and IIS are set up correctly, you should receive the same page when navigating to http://portal.example.com, and http://portal

You can make it easier for yourself and everybody else if you add the site (http://portal, and http:*.example.com) to your trusted sites list, and enable 'Automatic Logon With Current User Name And Password' in Internet Explorer