Enabling an S3 Website with Route 53

This tutorial outlines the process of setting up a website hosted in an Amazon S3 bucket and making it accessible via a custom domain managed by Amazon Route 53. The process involves creating an S3 bucket, configuring it for website hosting, setting permissions, and creating an alias record in Route 53 to point to the S3 website endpoint.

Notable Points

• HTTPS and S3 Websites: By default, S3 website endpoints only support HTTP. For HTTPS, a Content Delivery Network (CDN) like Amazon CloudFront is required. CloudFront can serve content over HTTPS by using a custom domain and integrating with your S3 bucket.
• Public Access: Granting public access to your S3 objects and enabling static website hosting are crucial steps. Be mindful of the permissions to avoid exposing sensitive data.
• Route 53 Alias Record: Using an alias record in Route 53 to point to an S3 website is a key step. This enables the use of a custom domain for your S3-hosted website without needing to manage IP addresses directly.
• Matching Bucket and Record Names: The name of the S3 bucket must exactly match the domain or subdomain you wish to use. This is critical for the integration to work properly.

Example Case

• Objective: Host a blog at blog.stephanetheteacher.com using S3 and Route 53.
• Process:
  • Create a public S3 bucket named blog.stephanetheteacher.com.
  • Upload website files to the bucket and set them to public.
  • Enable static website hosting on the S3 bucket, setting index.html as the index document.
  • In Route 53, create an A record named blog as an alias pointing to the S3 website endpoint in the eu-central-1 region.
• Outcome: The blog is accessible via blog.stephanetheteacher.com, directly pointing to the S3 website content.

This guide demonstrates a practical approach to integrating Amazon S3 and Route 53 for hosting static websites, highlighting the importance of naming conventions and the limitations regarding HTTPS.