Using a temporary DNS/host header for SharePoint 2013

Question

I built a new SP farm using intranet.domain.com for the host name and public URL of the main web app. We are migrating from 2007 to 2013. Unfortunately, intranet.domain.com is currently tied to our SP 2007 production environment. Our server team created a DNS named intranettest.domain.com for me to use until go live. Can I safely do the following without screwing up the sites content, permissions, and changes to the master page?:

1. Remove the web app from the IIS web site, leaving the "delete IIS web site" option as "no"

2. Extend the web app, using the existing app pool, and set the host
   header and public url to intranettest.domain.com

Once we are ready to go live, the DNS entries will be updated to the new SP2013 IP addresses and I will have to change the web application back to intranet.domain.com

I did try AAMs but could not get them to work. I kept getting redirected to the IIS 8 web site. Not sure if I did something wrong though.

Any advice is appreciated!

Answer 1

What you describe is actually the recommended way to change a web application's URL.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262366(v=office.15).aspx

Essentially, the process is to go to CA, remove the site from IIS (you can safely leave the IIS site to preserve your web.config changes) then re-extend to the default zone.