AWS Solution Architect Associate SAA-C02: Part 4- CloudFront

Everything we learned to pass the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Solutions Architect Associate exam (SAA- C02). Study Guide, as well as downloadable PDF on https://www.blackchili.co.uk/training/aws-solution-architect-associate/. Probably about an hour to read, and making your own notes is recommended. MP3 of each chapter, as well as the full course also available!

CloudFront

CloudFront is a CDN, a system of distributed servers that delivers web content to users from a more local point than the originating system, which improves performance. Cached at edge locations, from origin in S3, EC2, load balancer or route 53. A distribution is a collection of edge locations. First user consumes the content by downloading it from source, it is then cached at local edge location for a configured time. Subsequent users will pull the same content from the edge cache, until the cache TTL expires. Caches can be cleared (invalidating the cache), but this is chargeable.

CloudFront is dynamic, and will automatically use the best locations for users. Web distribution is used for web content, RTMP is used for media streaming.

Edge locations are not read only, they can also be written to (See S3 Transfer Acceleration)

CloudFront is global, not regional. Can cache a bucket, or a folder within. Access can be restricted to signed URLs or cookies. WAFs can also be used to protect distributions.

CloudFront distributions can take up to an hour to create, and must be disabled before they can be deleted, which can take 15 mins to complete. A specific domain name is provided for CloudFront edge location.

To remove from edge locations, create invalidations. An invalidation can remove specific files or folders, or everything. Invalidating will remove objects from edge locations, but incurs a charge.

Read the rest of the Series at Black Chili -https://www.blackchili.co.uk/training/aws-solution-architect-associate/.