aws-cloudformation-cloudfront

AWS CloudFormation CloudFront CDN

Overview

Create production-ready CDN infrastructure using AWS CloudFormation templates. This skill covers CloudFront distributions, multiple origins (ALB, S3, API Gateway, Lambda@Edge, VPC Origins), CacheBehaviors, Functions, SecurityHeaders, and best practices for parameters, outputs, and cross-stack references.

When to Use

• Creating CloudFront distributions with CloudFormation
• Configuring origins (ALB, S3, Lambda@Edge, VPC Origins) with path patterns
• Implementing caching with CacheBehaviors and Cache Policies
• Configuring custom domains with ACM and SecurityHeaders
• Integrating WAF with CloudFront distributions

Instructions

Follow these steps to create CloudFront distributions with CloudFormation:

1. Define Distribution Parameters

Validate before deploying:

aws cloudformation validate-template --template-body file://template.yaml
cfn-lint template.yaml

Specify domain names, ACM certificates, price class, and origin settings:

Parameters:
  DomainName:
    Type: String
    Default: cdn.example.com
    Description: Custom domain name for CloudFront distribution

  CertificateArn:
    Type: AWS::ACM::Certificate::Arn
    Description: ACM certificate ARN for HTTPS

  PriceClass:
    Type: String
    Default: PriceClass_All
    AllowedValues:
      - PriceClass_All
      - PriceClass_100
      - PriceClass_200
    Description: CloudFront price class

  OriginDomainName:
    Type: String
    Description: Domain name of the origin (ALB or S3)

2. Configure Origins

Add S3 buckets, ALBs, API Gateway, or custom origins. For S3 origins, use OAI (legacy) or OAC (recommended):

Resources:
  # S3 Bucket
  StaticBucket:
    Type: AWS::S3::Bucket
    Properties:
      BucketName: !Sub "static-assets-${AWS::AccountId}-${AWS::Region}"
      PublicAccessBlockConfiguration:
        BlockPublicAcls: true
        BlockPublicPolicy: true

  # Origin Access Control (recommended)
  OriginAccessControl:
    Type: AWS::CloudFront::OriginAccessControl
    Properties:
      OriginAccessControlConfig:
        Name: !Sub "${AWS::StackName}-oac"
        OriginAccessControlOriginType: s3
        SigningBehavior: always
        SigningProtocol: sigv4