Change Internal and Public URL for Zones

Question

Currently I have 2 web applications in our load-balanced SP2010 environment:  "Intranet" and "My Sites"

They will be deployed in a "Pilot" phase for about a month.  After the "Pilot", the sites will be made available to everyone at which time the URLs must change to corporate standardized names.  (Example, www.intranetpilot.com as the pilot name must change to www.mycompany.com as the post-pilot name)  The pilot name should no longer be used from that moment on. 

Question - using Alternate Access Mappings, can I just change the public URL for the default zone for each of the above web applications?  Can I also change the Internal URL for the web apps as well?

I have extended both web applications (Intranet and My Sites) to use SSL in an Internet zone as well.  Can I use the same technique to change the urls on these as well?  (I realize this will also involve certificate and DNS changes, but I'm more concerned with the Sharepoint configuration at this point)

I've read several articles about this, but I'm just not understanding it like I need to. 

Answer 1

As long as the Alternate Access Mappings are in place and the host header information is correct you should be fine. Of course, any non relative paths will need to be fixed. As a safety measure you can leave the other URLs in other AAM areas (like extranet or custom) until all the hard coded links are fixed.

vr,
Michael