Architecting a Scalable Frontend for Insurance Tech Applications on AWS

Neelesh RoyNeelesh Roy
6 min read

Table of contents

In the insurance tech industry, handling complex policy data while providing a seamless user experience is paramount. Building a scalable frontend that can manage this efficiently is a challenge. AWS offers a suite of services that can help us design a robust system.

Frontend Architecture Overview

Objectives:

Create a scalable, low-latency, secured Insurance policy creation feature.

  • Scalability: Handle increasing user loads without performance degradation.

  • Security: Protect sensitive policy information.

  • Performance: Deliver low-latency interactions.

  • Maintainability: Enable easy updates and deployments.

Key AWS Services:

  • Amazon S3: For hosting static frontend assets.

  • Amazon CloudFront: For global content delivery.

  • AWS Cognito: For user authentication and authorization.

  • AWS AppSync: For GraphQL API and real-time data synchronization.

  • AWS Amplify: For simplified frontend development and deployment.

Tech Stack:

  • React: A JavaScript library for building dynamic and responsive user interfaces

  • Node: A JavaScript runtime for building scalable server-side applications

  • AWS Serverless: Lambda, Appsync, Amplify, DynamoDB, Cognito etc

  • Amazon ElastiCache (Redis): In-memory caching to accelerate data retrieval

  • Amazon CloudWatch: Monitoring and logging

Steps:

Hosting React App on Amazon S3 and CloudFront

Step 1: Build our React Application

First, create and build our React app.

npx create-react-app insurance-frontend
cd insurance-frontend
npm run build

Step 2: Create an S3 Bucket

Create an S3 bucket to host our frontend.

aws s3 mb s3://insurance-frontend-bucket --region us-east-1

Step 3: Configure the Bucket for Static Website Hosting

Enable static website hosting on our S3 bucket.

aws s3 website s3://insurance-frontend-bucket/ --index-document index.html --error-document index.html

Step 4: Upload our Build to S3

aws s3 sync build/ s3://insurance-frontend-bucket/

Step 5: Set Up CloudFront Distribution

Use CloudFront to distribute our content globally.

aws cloudfront create-distribution \ --origin-domain-name insurance-frontend-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com

Implementing Authentication with AWS Cognito

Step 1: Create a Cognito User Pool

In the AWS Console, navigate to Cognito and create a new User Pool named InsuranceUserPool.

Step 2: Set Up an App Client

Within our User Pool, create an App Client without a client secret.

Step 3: Integrate Cognito with our React App

Install AWS Amplify Libraries:

npm install aws-amplify @aws-amplify/ui-react

Configure Amplify in our App:

// src/aws-exports.js
const awsConfig = {
  Auth: {
    region: 'us-east-1',
    userPoolId: 'YOUR_USER_POOL_ID',
    userPoolWebClientId: 'YOUR_APP_CLIENT_ID',
  },
};

export default awsConfig;

// src/index.js
import React from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
import Amplify from 'aws-amplify';
import awsConfig from './aws-exports';
import App from './App';

Amplify.configure(awsConfig);

ReactDOM.render(<App />, document.getElementById('root'));

Implement Authentication Components:

// src/App.js
import React from 'react';
import { withAuthenticator } from '@aws-amplify/ui-react';

function App() {
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Insurance Policy Management</h1>
      {/* app code here */}
    </div>
  );
}

export default withAuthenticator(App);

Connecting to Backend APIs with AWS AppSync

Step 1: Define our GraphQL Schema

In the AWS AppSync console, define our schema.

graphqlCopy codetype Policy @model {
  id: ID!
  name: String!
  type: String!
  premium: Float!
  coverage: String!
}

# Note: The @model directive is used with AWS Amplify

Step 2: Generate GraphQL Operations

Use the Amplify CLI to set up API and generate code.

bashCopy codeamplify add api
# Follow the prompts to configure GraphQL API
amplify codegen

Step 3: Query Policies in our React App

// src/components/PolicyList.js
import React, { useEffect, useState } from 'react';
import { API } from 'aws-amplify';
import { listPolicys } from '../graphql/queries';

function PolicyList() {
  const [policies, setPolicies] = useState([]);

  useEffect(() => {
    fetchPolicies();
  }, []);

  async function fetchPolicies() {
    try {
      const apiData = await API.graphql({ query: listPolicys });
      setPolicies(apiData.data.listPolicys.items);
    } catch (err) {
      console.log('Error fetching policies:', err);
    }
  }

  return (
    <div>
      <h2>Policies</h2>
      <ul>
        {policies.map((policy) => (
          <li key={policy.id}>{policy.name} - {policy.type}</li>
        ))}
      </ul>
    </div>
  );
}

export default PolicyList;

Step 4: Mutate Data (Create a New Policy)

// src/components/CreatePolicy.js
import React, { useState } from 'react';
import { API } from 'aws-amplify';
import { createPolicy } from '../graphql/mutations';

function CreatePolicy() {
  const [formData, setFormData] = useState({
    name: '',
    type: '',
    premium: '',
    coverage: '',
  });

  async function handleSubmit(e) {
    e.preventDefault();
    try {
      await API.graphql({
        query: createPolicy,
        variables: { input: { ...formData, premium: parseFloat(formData.premium) } },
      });
      setFormData({ name: '', type: '', premium: '', coverage: '' });
      alert('Policy created successfully');
    } catch (err) {
      console.log('Error creating policy:', err);
    }
  }

  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit}>
      <input
        name="name"
        placeholder="Policy Name"
        value={formData.name}
        onChange={(e) => setFormData({ ...formData, name: e.target.value })}
      />
      {/* Add inputs for type, premium, and coverage */}
      <button type="submit">Create Policy</button>
    </form>
  );
}

export default CreatePolicy;

Setting Up a Node.js Backend with AWS Lambda

While AppSync can handle most CRUD operations, you might need custom business logic.

Step 1: Write our Lambda Function

// index.js
exports.handler = async (event) => {
  // Our custom logic here
  return {
    statusCode: 200,
    body: JSON.stringify('Hello from Lambda!'),
  };
};

Step 2: Deploy the Lambda Function

zip function.zip index.js
aws lambda create-function --function-name InsuranceFunction \
  --zip-file fileb://function.zip \
  --handler index.handler \
  --runtime nodejs14.x \
  --role arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/YourLambdaRole

Step 3: Integrate Lambda with AppSync

In AppSync, create a new data source pointing to our Lambda function and update our resolver mappings.

Continuous Deployment with AWS Amplify

Step 1: Initialize Amplify in our React Project

amplify init

Step 2: Add Hosting to our App

amplify add hosting
# Choose Amazon CloudFront and S3

Step 3: Publish our App

amplify publish

Step 4: Set Up Continuous Deployment

  • Connect our Git repository in the Amplify Console.

  • Configure build settings using amplify.yml.

  • Every code push triggers a new deployment.

Monitoring and Logging with Amazon CloudWatch

Enable Logging in Node.js Application

// Use a logging library like Winston
const winston = require('winston');

const logger = winston.createLogger({
  level: 'info',
  transports: [new winston.transports.Console()],
});

logger.info('Application started');

Monitor Lambda Functions

CloudWatch automatically collects logs from Lambda functions. You can set up alarms based on metrics like error rates or execution times.

Implementing Caching with AWS ElastiCache

For improved performance on frequently accessed data.

Step 1: Set Up a Redis Cluster

aws elasticache create-cache-cluster \
  --cache-cluster-id policy-cache \
  --engine redis \
  --cache-node-type cache.t2.micro \
  --num-cache-nodes 1

Step 2: Integrate Redis in our Node.js Backend

// Install Redis client
npm install redis

// index.js
const redis = require('redis');
const client = redis.createClient({
  host: 'YOUR_CACHE_ENDPOINT',
  port: 6379,
});

exports.handler = async (event) => {
  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    client.get('policies', async (err, policies) => {
      if (policies) {
        resolve({
          statusCode: 200,
          body: policies,
        });
      } else {
        // Fetch from database and cache it
        const freshPolicies = await fetchPoliciesFromDB();
        client.set('policies', JSON.stringify(freshPolicies));
        resolve({
          statusCode: 200,
          body: JSON.stringify(freshPolicies),
        });
      }
    });
  });
};

Final Thoughts

By integrating AWS services with Node.js and React, we can build a scalable, secure, and high-performance frontend for out insurance tech application. This architecture streamlines user authentication, data management, and deployment processes, allowing you to focus on delivering value to our users.

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Frontend DevelopmentAWSAmazon Web ServicesGraphQLRedis

Written by

Neelesh Roy
Neelesh Roy