AWS FREE TIER

Welcome to my first hands-on AWS Cloud project! I successfully deployed a high-performance, globally accessible static website using Amazon S3 and CloudFront. This project gave me a strong foundation in AWS services and best practices for cloud hosting.

🧠 Project Overview

This project involved deploying a static website—composed entirely of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and images—with no server-side code. Static sites are blazing fast, secure, scalable, and extremely cost-effective to host on AWS.

🔑 Key AWS Services Used:

Amazon S3 – Used for hosting the website files.
Amazon CloudFront – Used as a CDN to cache and deliver content globally.
AWS IAM – Used to manage permissions and secure access.

🚦 Difficulty & Duration

Level: Beginner
Time Taken: ~45 minutes (CloudFront setup took the most time)

✅ Project Steps

Step 1: Crafted My Website Content

I started by creating a minimal static website using:

index.html – My main page
error.html – Custom error page

I organized the content in a simple directory structure:
/index.html
/error.html
/images/

The site is purely static, with no backend logic.

Step 2: Created the S3 Storage Bucket

I created a new S3 bucket with:

A unique name: bharat-surya-jithuga-portfolio
Region: AP south (mumbai-1)
Public Access: Disabled block public access
Static Website Hosting: Enabled

I set:

Index document: index.html
Error document: error.html

After creation, I received a bucket website endpoint like:
http://bharat-surya-jithuga-portfolio.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/

Step 3: Uploaded Content & Configured Bucket Policy

I uploaded all my website files to the bucket. Initially, I faced a 403 Forbidden Error because no bucket policy was set.

To fix this, I added the following bucket policy to allow public read access:

{  
  "Version": "2012-10-17",  
  "Statement": [  
    {  
      "Sid": "PublicReadGetObject",  
      "Effect": "Allow",  
      "Principal": "*",  
      "Action": [  
        "s3:GetObject"  
      ],  
      "Resource": [  
        "arn:aws:s3:::bharat-surya-jithuga-portfolio/*"  
      ]  
    }  
  ]  
}

Once done, the site became publicly accessible via the S3 static website URL.

Step 4: Integrated with CloudFront for CDN & HTTPS

Next, I created a CloudFront distribution to:

Cache my content globally
Provide free SSL (HTTPS)
Improve latency

Before CloudFront, the site was not secure and showed warnings in the browser.
Key CloudFront Settings:

Origin Domain: My S3 static website endpoint (not just the bucket name)
Origin Access: Used Origin Access Control (OAC) for tighter security
Viewer Protocol Policy: Redirect HTTP to HTTPS
Default Root Object: index.html

Deployment took around 15 minutes to complete.

Step 5: Tested & Verified My Live Website

Once the CloudFront distribution was enabled, I accessed the secure HTTPS version of my website using the CloudFront domain name:
https://d32jl2y5ezg8v8.cloudfront.net/

I verified:

Secure HTTPS connection (padlock in browser)
No 403/404 errors or JavaScript issues in the browser console

🚀 Key Learnings

Through this project, I learned to:

Use Amazon S3 to host static files
Configure bucket policies to allow public access
Deploy a CloudFront CDN for global delivery and HTTPS
Work with IAM permissions for secure resource access
Understand how static sites behave in cloud environments

🧩 What’s Next?

I'm planning to enhance this site by adding a contact form using:

AWS Lambda
Amazon API Gateway

This will introduce some dynamic backend logic and elevate my cloud skills to the next level.

💡 Pro Tips & Notes

Always monitor usage in the Billing Dashboard
S3 static hosting does not support HTTPS directly — CloudFront solves this
After the 12-month AWS Free Tier, charges may apply — clean up unused resources

🌟 This was my first cloud deployment project on AWS – and it worked beautifully. I'm excited to build more complex solutions now!

Happy deploying! ☁️🚀

AWS Static Website Hosting in AWS Free Tier