Hi all,
(nb. I’m using “NetBios” as a catch-all moniker to mean the host name in the FQDN, eg. “portal” in “portal.contoso.com”)
I’ve done this both ways, and it seems to work ok in most respects however I do it, just wondering what everyone else does? Also wondering if there’ll be knock-on effects on OWA or any of the Enterprise Services.
Just in case it’s not obvious, I’m talking about a corporate internal network here — clearly on the WWW you’d want fqdn’s.
Some starting points:
1. AutoSPInstaller automatically uses NetBios name for Central Admin (at least through the GUI, I expect it’s changeable in the .xml somewhere, but haven’t looked)
2. Obviously if NetBios names aren’t used, pass-through authentication won’t work unless the sites are added to the Intranet Zone in IE
3. And, if NetBios names are used, they will have to be resolved, for example via WINS or DNS GlobalNames forward lookup zone
4. Post-install could of course add the facility to use the alternative address via AAM or extending into another zone (boo!) or Set-SPSiteURL … but perhaps that’s extra hassle for no real benefit
5. Users like the vanity url, and NetBios caters for that much better
6. Search should be pointed at the Default Zome of a Site Collection (because it requires authenticated access via Kerberos or NTLM) – what about OWA, or other Enterprise Services?
7. I don’t remember what the SP installation wizard does by default — it’s been a long time since I’ve used it, and going through the exercise would be for interest-sake only as it’s hardly a model for good practice. I suppose some of the blogs that illustrate its use might have the answer though
….
I’m leaning towards fqdn’s myself, using policies to add the sites to the intranet sites for IE and handling the users’ desire for single-label vanity URL’s by giving them a look of exaggerated pity, accompanied by a slow shaking of the head, sucking of the teeth, and if necessary, rolling of the eyes. Unless of course they have WINS or a GlobalName zone … then I just quote a price.
What about y’all?
Hi Rob,
Thanks — looks like we’re getting a consensus here. It’s comforting to confirm with the peer group.
From a SharePoint config point of view (regardless of deployment method, e.g autospinstaller – which I use, and LOVE) – it doesn’t seem to mind whether things use netbios or FQDN.
It is generally going to come down to business requirements, existing naming standards, whether internet facing, etc.
Some organisations prefer short name for internal stuff – http://intranet, http://mysite, http://askHR etc – whereas some organisations use FQDN for everything, even internally.
Hi Eric, thanks for the catch! You’re absolutely right — that was a typo on my part which I corrected above in my answer to Vlad but should have also corrected in the original post. I’ve done that now.
Glad someone else is paying attention!
Regarding #2, I believe IE treats any non-FQDN named sites (e.g. http://portal) as part of the local intranet zone automatically so you shouldn’t have to add it to the list of intranet sites. I read the opposite in your question but maybe I read it incorrectly.
Great Vlad, thanks for the response — just noticed my typo in number 2 above as well — it should read “… if NetBios names aren’t used …”
