---
layout: pattern
title: Static Content Hosting
folder: cloud-static-content-hosting
permalink: /patterns/cloud-static-content-hosting/
categories: Cloud
language: en
tags:
- Cloud distributed
---
## Intent
Deploy static content to a cloud-based storage service that can deliver them directly to the client.
This can reduce the need for potentially expensive compute instances.
## Explanation
Real world example
> A global marketing web site with static content needs to be quickly deployed to start attracting
> potential customers. To keep the hosting expenses and maintenance minimum, a cloud hosted storage
> service along with content delivery network is used.
In plain words
> Static Content Hosting pattern utilizes cloud native storage service to store the content and
> global content delivery network to cache it in multiple data centers around the world.
>
> On a static website, individual webpages include static content. They might also contain
> client-side scripts such as Javascript. By contrast, a dynamic website relies on server-side
> processing, including server-side scripts such as PHP, JSP, or ASP.NET.
Wikipedia says
> A static web page (sometimes called a flat page or a stationary page) is a web page that is
> delivered to the user's web browser exactly as stored, in contrast to dynamic web pages which are
> generated by a web application.
>
> Static web pages are suitable for content that never or rarely needs to be updated, though modern
> web template systems are changing this. Maintaining large numbers of static pages as files can be
> impractical without automated tools, such as static site generators.
**Example**
In this example we create a static web site using AWS S3 and utilize AWS Cloudfront to distribute
the content globally.
1. First you will need an AWS account. You can create a free one here: [AWS Free Tier](https://aws.amazon.com/free/free-tier/)
2. Login to the [AWS Console](https://console.aws.amazon.com/console/home?nc2=h_ct&src=header-signin)
3. Go to Identity and Access Management (IAM) service.
4. Create IAM user that has only the necessary rights for this application.
* Click `Users`
* Click `Add user`. Choose `User name` as you wish and `Access type` should be `Programmatic access`. Click `Next: Permissions`.
* Choose `Attach existing policies directly`. Select `AmazonS3FullAccess` and `CloudFrontFullAccess`. Click `Next: Tags`.
* No tags are necessarily needed, so just click `Next: Review`.
* Review the presented information and if all seems good click `Create user`.
* You are presented with `Access key ID` and `Secret access key` which you will need to complete this example, so store them safely.
* Click `Close`.
5. [Install AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/install-cliv1.html) to gain programmic access to AWS cloud.
6. Configure AWS CLI with command `aws configure` as desribed in the [instructions](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-configure-quickstart.html#cli-configure-quickstart-config)
7. Create AWS S3 bucket for the web site content. Note that the S3 bucket names must be globally unique.
* The syntax is `aws s3 mb <bucket name>` as described in the [instructions](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-services-s3-commands.html#using-s3-commands-managing-buckets-creating)
* For example `aws s3 mb s3://my-static-website-jh34jsjmg`
* Verify that the bucket was successfully created with command `aws s3 ls` which list the existing buckets
8. Configure the bucket as a web site with command `aws s3 website` as described in the [instructions](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/s3/website.html).
* E.g. `aws s3 website s3://my-static-website-jh34jsjmg --index-document index.html --error-document error.html`
9. Upload content to the bucket.
* First create the content, at least `index.html` and `error.html` documents.
* Upload the content to your bucket as described [here](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-services-s3-commands.html#using-s3-commands-managing-objects-copy)
* E.g. `aws s3 cp index.html s3://my-static-website-jh34jsjmg` and `aws s3 cp error.html s3://my-static-website-jh34jsjmg`
10. Next we need to set the bucket policy to allow read access.
* Create `policy.json` with the following contents (note that you need to replace the bucket name with your own).
```json
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Sid": "PublicReadGetObject",
"Effect": "Allow",
"Principal": "*",
"Action": "s3:GetObject",
"Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::my-static-website-jh34jsjmg/*"
}
]
}
```
* Set the bucket policy according to these [instructions](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/s3api/put-bucket-policy.html)
* E.g. `aws s3api put-bucket-policy --bucket my-static-website-jh34jsjmg --policy file://policy.json`
11. Test the web site in your browser.
* The web site URL format is `http://<bucket-name>.s3-website-<region-name>.amazonaws.com`
* E.g. this web site was created in `eu-west-1` region with name `my-static-website-jh34jsjmg` so it can be accessed via url `http://my-static-website-jh34jsjmg.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com`
12. Create CloudFormation distribution for the web site.
* The syntax is described in [this reference](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/cloudfront/create-distribution.html)
* E.g. the easiest way is to call `aws cloudfront create-distribution --origin-domain-name my-static-website-jh34jsjmg.s3.amazonaws.com --default-root-object index.html`
* There's also JSON syntax e.g. `--distribution-config file://dist-config.json` to pass distribution configuration arguments in file
* The output of the call will show you the exact distribution settings including the generated CloudFront domain name you can use for testing e.g. `d2k3xwnaqa8nqx.cloudfront.net`
* CloudFormation distribution deployment takes some time, but once it's completed your web site is served from data centers all around the globe!
13. That's it! You have implemented a static web site with content distribution network serving it lightning fast all around the world.
* To update the web site you need to update the objects in S3 bucket and invalidate the objects in the CloudFront distribution
* To do it from AWS CLI see [this reference](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/cloudfront/create-invalidation.html)
* Some further development you might want to do is serve the content over https and add a domain name for your site
## Applicability
Use the Static Content Hosting pattern when you want to:
* Minimize the hosting cost for websites and applications that contain some static resources.
* Build a globally available web site with static content
* Monitor the web site traffic, bandwidth usage, costs etc.
## Typical Use Case
* Web sites with global reach
* Content produced by static web site generators
* Web sites with no dynamic content requirements
## Real world examples
* [Java Design Patterns web site](https://java-design-patterns.com)
## Credits
* [Static Content Hosting pattern](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/patterns/static-content-hosting)