A static file is preexisting content served directly to a visitor instead of being generated dynamically for each request. Static website content commonly includes HTML, JavaScript, CSS, images, audio, and video. section 1.2.1 section 7.6
Amazon S3 can store and serve static files without virtual machines. A static site generator such as Hexo can create the files, while S3 provides cost-effective, scalable, maintenance-free hosting. section 7.6
A typical static-file deployment uses these components:
- An S3 bucket stores the website objects. section 7.6
- A bucket policy grants public read access when the bucket delivers a public website. section 7.6.2
- S3 website hosting selects an index document, such as index.html or helloworld.html, and can define error documents and redirects. section 7.6 section 7.6.2
- A CDN such as Amazon CloudFront caches files at geographically distributed nodes, reducing latency and origin load. section 1.2.1 section 7.6
Configure an S3 static website
Create a JSON bucket policy that allows everyone to perform s3:GetObject on the bucket’s objects, apply it with aws s3api put-bucket-policy, and enable website hosting with aws s3 website using an index document. section 7.6.2
Static hosting does not execute server-side scripts such as PHP or JSP, so applications that require server-side processing—such as WordPress—cannot run directly from S3. section 7.6
