There are five zones available in SharePoint: default, intranet, extranet, Internet, and custom. While there is no functional difference (by default) between the zones, they provide a structure to configure access for different user segments accessing the same web application.
When a new SharePoint web application is created, its URL is stored in the default zone. If claims authentication is to be added along with another authentication mechanism, some consideration should be given to adding it to the default zone so the same URL can be used both inside the network and from outside the network.
IMPORTANT NTLM AUTHENTICATION AND SEARCH CRAWLS
At least one zone must be configured to enable NTLM authentication for the crawl component of search to be able to access content.
Thought experiment
Site collection implementation
In the following thought experiment, apply what you’ve learned about this objective. You can find answers to these questions in the “Answers” section at the back of this chapter.
In your organization, you have a few business groups that require separate vanity URLs for their portion of the intranet. Your SharePoint administrative staff is not well-versed in PowerShell but is comfortable with Central Administration. Additionally, you have a few business units that require the separation of content to meet legal and regulatory requirements. What type of site collection design might you use within this environment?
