Fast Static Website Deployment Using AWS And Pulumi

This is a submission for the Pulumi Deploy and Document Challenge: Fast Static Website Deployment What I Built For this challenge, I successfully deployed a basic web page using Infrastructure as Code (Pulumi), AWS S3 Bucket and CloudFront. This project used the following tool: AWS S3 Bucket for Static Website Hosting AWS CloudFront which serves as a Content Delivery Network (CDN) for global distribution, caching, and HTTPS support. Automating Cloud Resources Using Pulumi Live Demo Link Demo Link Project Repo Github Repo My Journey In this project, I used the following technologies: Web Page: HTML Cloud Provider: AWS Infrastructure as Code: Pulumi Programming Language: Python Prerequisites Before you begin, ensure you have: AWS Account: You can sign up for a free tier AWS account if you don’t have one. You'll need this to create and access the S3 bucket and CloudFront Services. AWS CLI installed and configured with your credentials. IAM User Account: Create an IAM (Identity Access Management) user with full access and permissions to use the S3 and CloudFront services. You’ll need an IAM User instead of using your main account. Pulumi Account: You can sign up for a Pulumi account if you don't have one. You will need this to be able to access your projects and stacks. Pulumi CLI: You can install the Pulumi CLI Here. You'll use it to login and automate your resources. Python3.6 or higher Basic understanding of python Basic understanding of AWS services 1. Configure AWS Credential in the CLI: After installing the AWS CLI, You need to configure your AWS CLI to enable you to connect and access your account. Run the following command to configure your AWS CLI: aws configure Enter the following details: AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID= # From IAM user security credentials AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY= # From IAM user security credentials DEFAULT_REGION= 2. Configure Pulumi CLI: After configuring the AWS CLI, you need to configure the Pulumi CLI to enable you to access and manage your project and stacks. Run the following command to authenticate your Pulumi CLI: pulumi login You will be prompted to manage your stacks by logging in using your personal access token or hitting the key to sign in using the browser. In this project, I will be using my personal access token to login. To get your personal access token: navigate to your dashboard click on the icon of your profile: Click on the personal access token. Click on Create token You will be asked to add a Description and Expiration of your personal access token. After creating your token, copy and paste your token in the CLI. You should see the following output when you have successfully logged in: 3. Initializing Pulumi Project After you have successfully logged in, you need to initialize a new Pulumi project template to manage your infrastructure as code. In this project, I will be initializing a pulumi aws-python project template. Run the following command to initialize a new pulumi project: pulumi new Select the aws-python template. This template shows that you will be using AWS as your cloud provider and Python as your programming language. You will be prompted to enter the following details: Project name: # Name of the project you want to use Project Description: # Name of your project description Stack: # Name of your stack (e.g. dev, stage, prod....) AWS Region: # The AWS Region you want to deploy your infrastructure You will also be prompted to select the toolchain for installing dependencies and running the program. In this project, I will be selecting pip toolchain. After entering the following details, it will automatically save the configuration, Install the necessary dependencies, and create a virtual environment for your project. 4. Building the application You will need to create a new folder named www in your project directory. This folder will contain the files(index.html) for your website. The index.html file will contain the following code: Deploying A Static Website Pulumi Challenge Deploying A Static Website Welcome to the Pulumi challenge! This is a simple static website deployed using Pulumi. Next, you will need to update the content main.py file. This file will contain the infrastructure to automate your resources to AWS. The main.py file will contain the following: Import Pulumi Configuration Setting Let's start by creating a variable named config to import the Pulumi Configuration Setting that will: Invoke and access the configuration value stored in the Pulumi..yaml file. Retrieve the value of the path configuration key. config = pulumi.Config() path = config.get("path") or "./www" In your project directory, navigate to the Pulumi..yaml file and add the following code: Fast-Static-Website:path:

Apr 5, 2025 - 23:07

Fast Static Website Deployment Using AWS And Pulumi

This is a submission for the Pulumi Deploy and Document Challenge: Fast Static Website Deployment

What I Built

For this challenge, I successfully deployed a basic web page using Infrastructure as Code (Pulumi), AWS S3 Bucket and CloudFront. This project used the following tool:

AWS S3 Bucket for Static Website Hosting
AWS CloudFront which serves as a Content Delivery Network (CDN) for global distribution, caching, and HTTPS support.
Automating Cloud Resources Using Pulumi

Live Demo Link

Demo Link

Project Repo

Github Repo

My Journey

In this project, I used the following technologies:

Web Page: HTML
Cloud Provider: AWS
Infrastructure as Code: Pulumi
Programming Language: Python

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:

AWS Account: You can sign up for a free tier AWS account if you don’t have one. You'll need this to create and access the S3 bucket and CloudFront Services.
AWS CLI installed and configured with your credentials.
IAM User Account: Create an IAM (Identity Access Management) user with full access and permissions to use the S3 and CloudFront services. You’ll need an IAM User instead of using your main account.
Pulumi Account: You can sign up for a Pulumi account if you don't have one. You will need this to be able to access your projects and stacks.
Pulumi CLI: You can install the Pulumi CLI Here. You'll use it to login and automate your resources.
Python3.6 or higher
Basic understanding of python
Basic understanding of AWS services

1. Configure AWS Credential in the CLI:

After installing the AWS CLI, You need to configure your AWS CLI to enable you to connect and access your account. Run the following command to configure your AWS CLI:

aws configure

Enter the following details:

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID= # From IAM user security credentials
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY= # From IAM user security credentials
DEFAULT_REGION=

2. Configure Pulumi CLI:

After configuring the AWS CLI, you need to configure the Pulumi CLI to enable you to access and manage your project and stacks. Run the following command to authenticate your Pulumi CLI:

pulumi login

You will be prompted to manage your stacks by logging in using your personal access token or hitting the key to sign in using the browser.

In this project, I will be using my personal access token to login. To get your personal access token:

navigate to your dashboard

click on the icon of your profile:

Click on the personal access token.

Click on Create token

You will be asked to add a Description and Expiration of your personal access token.

After creating your token, copy and paste your token in the CLI. You should see the following output when you have successfully logged in:

3. Initializing Pulumi Project

After you have successfully logged in, you need to initialize a new Pulumi project template to manage your infrastructure as code. In this project, I will be initializing a pulumi aws-python project template.

Run the following command to initialize a new pulumi project:

pulumi new

Select the aws-python template. This template shows that you will be using AWS as your cloud provider and Python as your programming language.

You will be prompted to enter the following details:

Project name: # Name of the project you want to use
Project Description: # Name of your project description
Stack: # Name of your stack (e.g. dev, stage, prod....)
AWS Region: # The AWS Region you want to deploy your infrastructure

You will also be prompted to select the toolchain for installing dependencies and running the program. In this project, I will be selecting pip toolchain.

After entering the following details, it will automatically save the configuration, Install the necessary dependencies, and create a virtual environment for your project.

4. Building the application

You will need to create a new folder named www in your project directory. This folder will contain the files(index.html) for your website.

The index.html file will contain the following code:


 lang="en">

     charset="utf-8">
    </span>Deploying A Static Website<span class="nt">


    Pulumi Challenge
    Deploying A Static Website
    Welcome to the Pulumi challenge! This is a simple static website deployed using Pulumi.

Next, you will need to update the content __main__.py file. This file will contain the infrastructure to automate your resources to AWS. The __main__.py file will contain the following:

Import Pulumi Configuration Setting

Let's start by creating a variable named config to import the Pulumi Configuration Setting that will:

Invoke and access the configuration value stored in the Pulumi..yaml file.
Retrieve the value of the path configuration key.

config = pulumi.Config()
path = config.get("path") or "./www"

In your project directory, navigate to the Pulumi..yaml file and add the following code:

Fast-Static-Website:path: ./www

Create S3 Bucket
Next, create a variable named bucket that will:

Create an S3 bucket resource using the newer version of Pulumi

bucket = aws.s3.BucketV2(
    'Static-Website-Bucket'
)

Configure The Bucket To Host A Static Website
Next, create a variable named bucket_website that will:

Configure the s3 bucket to host a static website using S3.BucketWebsiteConfigurationV2.
The S3.BucketWebsiteConfigurationV2 resource enable static website hosting and define the behavior for serving files.

bucket_website = aws.s3.BucketWebsiteConfigurationV2(
    'Static-Website-Bucket-Configuration',
    bucket=bucket.id,
    index_document={'suffix': 'index.html'},
    error_document={'key': 'error.html'},
)

Creating An IAM Policy For The Bucket
Next, create a variable named bucket_policy_resource that will:

Create an S3 Bucket Policy
Allow only CloudFront to access the objects in the bucket

bucket_policy_resource = aws.s3.BucketPolicy(
    "bucketPolicyResource",
    bucket=bucket.id,  # Reference the bucket's ID
    policy=bucket.arn.apply(lambda arn : f"""{{
        "Version": "2012-10-17",
        "Statement": [
            {{
                "Effect": "Allow",
                "Principal": {{
                    "Service": "cloudfront.amazonaws.com"
                }},
                "Action": "s3:GetObject",
                "Resource": "{arn}/*"
            }}
        ]
    }}"""
))

Creating Bucket Ownership Control
Next, create a variable named ownership_controls and public_access_block that will:

Create an S3 bucket ownership control
Create an s3 Bucket Public Access Block

ownership_controls = aws.s3.BucketOwnershipControls(
    "ownership-controls",
    bucket=bucket.bucket,
    rule={
        "object_ownership": "ObjectWriter",
    },
)

public_access_block = aws.s3.BucketPublicAccessBlock(
    "public-access-block",
    bucket=bucket.bucket,
    block_public_acls=False,
)

Using Synced Folder To Sync Local Files to S3 Bucket
Next, create a variable named bucket_folder that will:

Upload local files to S3 bucket

bucket_folder = synced_folder.S3BucketFolder(
    "bucket-folder",
    acl="public-read",
    bucket_name=bucket.bucket,
    path=path,
    opts=pulumi.ResourceOptions(depends_on=[ownership_controls, public_access_block]),
)

Before adding this content, you need to install pulumi-synced-folder>=0.0.0,<1.0.0 package and import the package in your __main__.py file. Run the following command to install the package:

pip install pulumi-synced-folder>=0.0.0,<1.0.0

Add the import at the top of your code in your __main__.py file:

import pulumi_synced_folder as synced_folder

Creating CloudFront Distribution
Next, create a variable named cdn that will:

Create a CloudFront CDN (Content Delivery Network) to distribute and cache the website
Improve Performance
HTTPS Support

cdn = aws.cloudfront.Distribution(
    "cdn",
    enabled=True,
    origins=[
        {
            "origin_id": bucket.arn,
            "domain_name": bucket_website.website_endpoint,
            "custom_origin_config": {
                "origin_protocol_policy": "http-only",
                "http_port": 80,
                "https_port": 443,
                "origin_ssl_protocols": ["TLSv1.2"],
            },
        }
    ],
    default_cache_behavior={
        "target_origin_id": bucket.arn,
        "viewer_protocol_policy": "redirect-to-https",
        "allowed_methods": [
            "GET",
            "HEAD"
        ],
        "cached_methods": [
            "GET",
            "HEAD"
        ],
        "default_ttl": 86400,
        "max_ttl": 31536000,
        "min_ttl": 60,
        "forwarded_values": {
            "query_string": False,
            "cookies": {
                "forward": "none",
            },
        },
    },
    custom_error_responses=[
        {
            "error_code": 404,
            "response_code": 404,
            "response_page_path": "/error.html",
        }
    ],
    restrictions={
        "geo_restriction": {
            "restriction_type": "none",
        },
    },
    viewer_certificate={
        "cloudfront_default_certificate": True,
    },
)

5. Exporting The URLs

Add the following code at the bottom of your code to export the URLs of the static website hosted on S3 bucket and the CloudFront distribution.

pulumi.export('websiteURL', bucket_website.website_endpoint)
pulumi.export("cdnURL", pulumi.Output.concat("https://", cdn.domain_name))

6. Running the script

Run the following command to execute the script:
pulumi up

You should see the following output:

You will be prompted if you want to perform the update, click yes

Challenges Faced

Error-1: Added a wrong argument when creating my S3 bucket

Solution: I used Pulumi copilot to know why i was getting the error and I fixed it by taking out the wrong argument.
Error-2: When trying to create the resources using pulumi up i encountered this error:

Solution: I used Pulumi copilot to check why it was failing then it showed that the error occurred when trying to set ACLs on a bucket that has Object Ownership set to "Bucket owner enforced", which disables ACLs. Then i saw an AWS article on how to control ownership of bucket and disabling ACLs in your bucket

After that i used Pulumi copilot to check on how i can have control of the object and allow acl.

Using Pulumi

In this project, I deployed a static website to AWS using Pulumi with Python, AWS S3, AWS IAM and AWS CloudFront. Pulumi handle the provisioning, configuration and integration of AWS resources efficiently.

Why Pulumi Was Beneficial

Infrastructure as Code: Defining my infrastructure using Python made it easy to understand, build, deploy and manage cloud infrastructure.
Preview: pulumi preview let me see what changes would happen before actually applying them.