Understanding Managed Paths in SharePoint

When we create Site Collections in Sharepoint web applications, they are created with URL as

http://servername:port/sites/

To have a specific URL other than /sites we would have to create a Managed Path.

When we create a Managed Path, we have two options:   Explicit Inclusion
                                                                                           Wildcard Inclusion


Explicit Inclusion:
When we are not planning to create further site collections under a specified managed path, then we use this option. Explicit Inclusion Managed paths allows in creation of only one site collection at the exact given URL.
In our case fahadexplicit would be the only site collection that can be created. SharePoint will allow creating only one site collection within this Managed Path.

The URL would be: http://servername:port/fahadexplicit


Wildcard Inclusion:
When we want to create more than one site collection under a specific managed path, we use this option. Wildcard Inclusion Managed Paths allow unlimited site collection to be created under a given URL.
In our case under fahadwildcard, we can create any number of site collections.

The URL of these site collections would be as below:

http://servername:port/fahadwildcard/sitecollection1
http://servername:port/fahadwildcard/sitecollection2



Preferred links:
http://www.sharepointpitstop.com/2012/11/managedpath-explicit-wildcard-inclusions.html
http://sureshpydi.blogspot.in/2013/03/share-point-managed-paths.html