Explaination of the web sites created by the configuration tool

Question

I am just starting out with Commerce Server 2009 and I am not quite understanding how everthing is tied together.  When I run the sharepoint configuration tool it creates a new web site and what is called an extended web site.  My question is, do both of these web sites need to be available to the general public?  If so, which one?  Should the public site be assigned port 80 or should the port be remapped using a router/firewall?

Answer 1

The SharePoint Configuratoin tool creates for you 2 sites based on the same db. The first one uses the NTLM or Kerberos authentication method. And the second one uses the upm provider.

With the Active Directory authentication, the webmaster can use the current windows account to manage the web site. And your IT can set all the security stuff in SharePoint (list permission, pages,...) with the users who belong to your AD. Besides, you can filter the IP to be sure that only your team member can access it.

Your public site is just dedicated to the customer with no security risk.

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http://gaelduhamel.spaces.live.com; http://www.twitter.com/GaelDuhamel; http://www.itcreme.com

Answer 2

Gael,

Thank you for you reply. 

So my public site depends on what kind of authentication I want my users to use for my site?

Answer 3

Yes, but if it's a public site you cannot use the active directory one or you have to pay for each user as a user means a cal in your ad :)

So, go for the upm for the public site :)

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http://gaelduhamel.spaces.live.com; http://www.twitter.com/GaelDuhamel; http://www.itcreme.com

Answer 4

ah...good point on the active directory.  Thanks for the explaination.

Regards,
Mike