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Resource

CloudFront

Amazon Web Services
Network
Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery network (CDN) service that provides low latency consumption of web content such as images and videos to your users by using a worldwide network of data centers called edge locations that transfer the content with high transfer speed.
Terraform Name
terraform
aws_cloudfront_distribution
CloudFront
attributes:

Top-Level Arguments

  • aliases (Optional) - Extra CNAMEs (alternate domain names), if any, for this distribution.
  • comment (Optional) - Any comments you want to include about the distribution.
  • custom_error_response (Optional) - One or more custom error response elements (multiples allowed).
  • default_cache_behavior (Required) - The default cache behavior for this distribution (maximum one).
  • default_root_object (Optional) - The object that you want CloudFront to return (for example, index.html) when an end user requests the root URL.
  • enabled (Required) - Whether the distribution is enabled to accept end user requests for content.
  • is_ipv6_enabled (Optional) - Whether the IPv6 is enabled for the distribution.
  • http_version (Optional) - The maximum HTTP version to support on the distribution. Allowed values are http1.1, http2, http2and3 and http3. The default is http2.
  • logging_config (Optional) - The logging configuration that controls how logs are written to your distribution (maximum one).
  • ordered_cache_behavior (Optional) - An ordered list of cache behaviors resource for this distribution. List from top to bottom in order of precedence. The topmost cache behavior will have precedence 0.
  • origin (Required) - One or more origins for this distribution (multiples allowed).
  • origin_group (Optional) - One or more origin_group for this distribution (multiples allowed).
  • price_class (Optional) - The price class for this distribution. One of PriceClass_All, PriceClass_200, PriceClass_100
  • restrictions (Required) - The restriction configuration for this distribution (maximum one).
  • tags - (Optional) A map of tags to assign to the resource. If configured with a provider default_tags configuration block present, tags with matching keys will overwrite those defined at the provider-level.
  • viewer_certificate (Required) - The SSL configuration for this distribution (maximum one).
  • web_acl_id (Optional) - A unique identifier that specifies the AWS WAF web ACL, if any, to associate with this distribution. To specify a web ACL created using the latest version of AWS WAF (WAFv2), use the ACL ARN, for example aws_wafv2_web_acl.example.arn. To specify a web ACL created using AWS WAF Classic, use the ACL ID, for example aws_waf_web_acl.example.id. The WAF Web ACL must exist in the WAF Global (CloudFront) region and the credentials configuring this argument must have waf:GetWebACL permissions assigned.
  • retain_on_delete (Optional) - Disables the distribution instead of deleting it when destroying the resource through Terraform. If this is set, the distribution needs to be deleted manually afterwards. Default: false.
  • wait_for_deployment (Optional) - If enabled, the resource will wait for the distribution status to change from InProgress to Deployed. Setting this tofalse will skip the process. Default: true.

Cache Behavior Arguments

  • allowed_methods (Required) - Controls which HTTP methods CloudFront processes and forwards to your Amazon S3 bucket or your custom origin.
  • cached_methods (Required) - Controls whether CloudFront caches the response to requests using the specified HTTP methods.
  • cache_policy_id (Optional) - The unique identifier of the cache policy that is attached to the cache behavior.
  • compress (Optional) - Whether you want CloudFront to automatically compress content for web requests that include Accept-Encoding: gzip in the request header (default: false).
  • default_ttl (Optional) - The default amount of time (in seconds) that an object is in a CloudFront cache before CloudFront forwards another request in the absence of an Cache-Control max-age or Expires header.
  • field_level_encryption_id (Optional) - Field level encryption configuration ID
  • forwarded_values (Optional) - The forwarded values configuration that specifies how CloudFront handles query strings, cookies and headers (maximum one).
  • lambda_function_association (Optional) - A config block that triggers a lambda function with specific actions (maximum 4).
  • function_association (Optional) - A config block that triggers a cloudfront function with specific actions (maximum 2).
  • max_ttl (Optional) - The maximum amount of time (in seconds) that an object is in a CloudFront cache before CloudFront forwards another request to your origin to determine whether the object has been updated. Only effective in the presence of Cache-Control max-age, Cache-Control s-maxage, and Expires headers.
  • min_ttl (Optional) - The minimum amount of time that you want objects to stay in CloudFront caches before CloudFront queries your origin to see whether the object has been updated. Defaults to 0 seconds.
  • origin_request_policy_id (Optional) - The unique identifier of the origin request policy that is attached to the behavior.
  • path_pattern (Required) - The pattern (for example, images/*.jpg) that specifies which requests you want this cache behavior to apply to.
  • realtime_log_config_arn (Optional) - The ARN of the real-time log configuration that is attached to this cache behavior.
  • response_headers_policy_id (Optional) - The identifier for a response headers policy.
  • smooth_streaming (Optional) - Indicates whether you want to distribute media files in Microsoft Smooth Streaming format using the origin that is associated with this cache behavior.
  • target_origin_id (Required) - The value of ID for the origin that you want CloudFront to route requests to when a request matches the path pattern either for a cache behavior or for the default cache behavior.
  • trusted_key_groups (Optional) - A list of key group IDs that CloudFront can use to validate signed URLs or signed cookies. See the CloudFront User Guide for more information about this feature.
  • trusted_signers (Optional) - List of AWS account IDs (or self) that you want to allow to create signed URLs for private content. See the CloudFront User Guide for more information about this feature.
  • viewer_protocol_policy (Required) - Use this element to specify the protocol that users can use to access the files in the origin specified by TargetOriginId when a request matches the path pattern in PathPattern. One of allow-all, https-only, or redirect-to-https.
Forwarded Values Arguments
  • cookies (Required) - The forwarded values cookies that specifies how CloudFront handles cookies (maximum one).
  • headers (Optional) - Headers, if any, that you want CloudFront to vary upon for this cache behavior. Specify * to include all headers.
  • query_string (Required) - Indicates whether you want CloudFront to forward query strings to the origin that is associated with this cache behavior.
  • query_string_cache_keys (Optional) - When specified, along with a value of true for query_string, all query strings are forwarded, however only the query string keys listed in this argument are cached. When omitted with a value of true for query_string, all query string keys are cached.
Lambda Function Association

Lambda@Edge allows you to associate an AWS Lambda Function with a predefined event. You can associate a single function per event type. See What is Lambda@Edge for more information.

Example configuration:

resource "aws_cloudfront_distribution" "example" {
 # ... other configuration ...

 # lambda_function_association is also supported by default_cache_behavior
 ordered_cache_behavior {
   # ... other configuration ...

   lambda_function_association {
     event_type   = "viewer-request"
     lambda_arn   = aws_lambda_function.example.qualified_arn
     include_body = false
   }
 }
}

  • event_type (Required) - The specific event to trigger this function. Valid values: viewer-request, origin-request, viewer-response, origin-response
  • lambda_arn (Required) - ARN of the Lambda function.
  • include_body (Optional) - When set to true it exposes the request body to the lambda function. Defaults to false. Valid values: true, false.
Function Association

With CloudFront Functions in Amazon CloudFront, you can write lightweight functions in JavaScript for high-scale, latency-sensitive CDN customizations. You can associate a single function per event type. See Cloudfront Functions for more information.

Example configuration:

resource "aws_cloudfront_distribution" "example" {
 # ... other configuration ...

 # function_association is also supported by default_cache_behavior
 ordered_cache_behavior {
   # ... other configuration ...

   function_association {
     event_type   = "viewer-request"
     function_arn = aws_cloudfront_function.example.arn
   }
 }
}

  • event_type (Required) - The specific event to trigger this function. Valid values: viewer-request or viewer-response
  • function_arn (Required) - ARN of the Cloudfront function.
Cookies Arguments
  • forward (Required) - Whether you want CloudFront to forward cookies to the origin that is associated with this cache behavior. You can specify all, none or whitelist. If whitelist, you must include the subsequent whitelisted_names
  • whitelisted_names (Optional) - If you have specified whitelist to forward, the whitelisted cookies that you want CloudFront to forward to your origin.

Custom Error Response Arguments

  • error_caching_min_ttl (Optional) - The minimum amount of time you want HTTP error codes to stay in CloudFront caches before CloudFront queries your origin to see whether the object has been updated.
  • error_code (Required) - The 4xx or 5xx HTTP status code that you want to customize.
  • response_code (Optional) - The HTTP status code that you want CloudFront to return with the custom error page to the viewer.
  • response_page_path (Optional) - The path of the custom error page (for example, /custom_404.html).

Default Cache Behavior Arguments

The arguments for default_cache_behavior are the same as for ordered_cache_behavior, except for the path_pattern argument should not be specified.

Logging Config Arguments

  • bucket (Required) - The Amazon S3 bucket to store the access logs in, for example, myawslogbucket.s3.amazonaws.com.
  • include_cookies (Optional) - Specifies whether you want CloudFront to include cookies in access logs (default: false).
  • prefix (Optional) - An optional string that you want CloudFront to prefix to the access log filenames for this distribution, for example, myprefix/.

Origin Arguments

  • connection_attempts (Optional) - The number of times that CloudFront attempts to connect to the origin. Must be between 1-3. Defaults to 3.
  • connection_timeout (Optional) - The number of seconds that CloudFront waits when trying to establish a connection to the origin. Must be between 1-10. Defaults to 10.
  • custom_origin_config - The CloudFront custom origin configuration information. If an S3 origin is required, use origin_access_control_id or s3_origin_config instead.
  • domain_name (Required) - The DNS domain name of either the S3 bucket, or web site of your custom origin.
  • custom_header (Optional) - One or more sub-resources with name and value parameters that specify header data that will be sent to the origin (multiples allowed).
  • origin_access_control_id (Optional) - The unique identifier of a CloudFront origin access control for this origin.
  • origin_id (Required) - A unique identifier for the origin.
  • origin_path (Optional) - An optional element that causes CloudFront to request your content from a directory in your Amazon S3 bucket or your custom origin.
  • origin_shield - The CloudFront Origin Shield configuration information. Using Origin Shield can help reduce the load on your origin. For more information, see Using Origin Shield in the Amazon CloudFront Developer Guide.
  • s3_origin_config - The CloudFront S3 origin configuration information. If a custom origin is required, use custom_origin_config instead.
Custom Origin Config Arguments
  • http_port (Required) - The HTTP port the custom origin listens on.
  • https_port (Required) - The HTTPS port the custom origin listens on.
  • origin_protocol_policy (Required) - The origin protocol policy to apply to your origin. One of http-only, https-only, or match-viewer.
  • origin_ssl_protocols (Required) - The SSL/TLS protocols that you want CloudFront to use when communicating with your origin over HTTPS. A list of one or more of SSLv3, TLSv1, TLSv1.1, and TLSv1.2.
  • origin_keepalive_timeout - (Optional) The Custom KeepAlive timeout, in seconds. By default, AWS enforces a limit of 60. But you can request an increase.
  • origin_read_timeout - (Optional) The Custom Read timeout, in seconds. By default, AWS enforces a limit of 60. But you can request an increase.
Origin Shield Arguments
  • enabled (Required) - A flag that specifies whether Origin Shield is enabled.
  • origin_shield_region (Required) - The AWS Region for Origin Shield. To specify a region, use the region code, not the region name. For example, specify the US East (Ohio) region as us-east-2.
S3 Origin Config Arguments
  • origin_access_identity (Required) - The CloudFront origin access identity to associate with the origin.

Origin Group Arguments

  • origin_id (Required) - A unique identifier for the origin group.
  • failover_criteria (Required) - The failover criteria for when to failover to the secondary origin
  • member (Required) - Ordered member configuration blocks assigned to the origin group, where the first member is the primary origin. You must specify two members.
Failover Criteria Arguments
  • status_codes (Required) - A list of HTTP status codes for the origin group
Member Arguments
  • origin_id (Required) - The unique identifier of the member origin

Restrictions Arguments

The restrictions sub-resource takes another single sub-resource named geo_restriction (see the example for usage).

The arguments of geo_restriction are:

  • locations (Optional) - The ISO 3166-1-alpha-2 codes for which you want CloudFront either to distribute your content (whitelist) or not distribute your content (blacklist).
  • restriction_type (Required) - The method that you want to use to restrict distribution of your content by country: none, whitelist, or blacklist.

Viewer Certificate Arguments

  • acm_certificate_arn - The ARN of the AWS Certificate Manager certificate that you wish to use with this distribution. Specify this, cloudfront_default_certificate, or iam_certificate_id. The ACM certificate must be in US-EAST-1.
  • cloudfront_default_certificate - true if you want viewers to use HTTPS to request your objects and you're using the CloudFront domain name for your distribution. Specify this, acm_certificate_arn, or iam_certificate_id.
  • iam_certificate_id - The IAM certificate identifier of the custom viewer certificate for this distribution if you are using a custom domain. Specify this, acm_certificate_arn, or cloudfront_default_certificate.
  • minimum_protocol_version - The minimum version of the SSL protocol that you want CloudFront to use for HTTPS connections. Can only be set if cloudfront_default_certificate = false. See all possible values in this table under "Security policy." Some examples include: TLSv1.2_2019 and TLSv1.2_2021. Default: TLSv1. NOTE: If you are using a custom certificate (specified with acm_certificate_arn or iam_certificate_id), and have specified sni-only in ssl_support_method, TLSv1 or later must be specified. If you have specified vip in ssl_support_method, only SSLv3 or TLSv1 can be specified. If you have specified cloudfront_default_certificate, TLSv1 must be specified.
  • ssl_support_method: Specifies how you want CloudFront to serve HTTPS requests. One of vip or sni-only. Required if you specify acm_certificate_arn or iam_certificate_id. NOTE: vip causes CloudFront to use a dedicated IP address and may incur extra charges.

Associating resources with a
CloudFront
Resources do not "belong" to a
CloudFront
Rather, one or more Security Groups are associated to a resource.
Create
CloudFront
via Terraform:
The following HCL creates a CloudFront distribution with an S3 origin.
Syntax:

resource "aws_s3_bucket" "b" {
 bucket = "mybucket"

 tags = {
   Name = "My bucket"
 }
}

resource "aws_s3_bucket_acl" "b_acl" {
 bucket = aws_s3_bucket.b.id
 acl    = "private"
}

locals {
 s3_origin_id = "myS3Origin"
}

resource "aws_cloudfront_distribution" "s3_distribution" {
 origin {
   domain_name              = aws_s3_bucket.b.bucket_regional_domain_name
   origin_access_control_id = aws_cloudfront_origin_access_control.default.id
   origin_id                = locals.s3_origin_id
 }

 enabled             = true
 is_ipv6_enabled     = true
 comment             = "Some comment"
 default_root_object = "index.html"

 logging_config {
   include_cookies = false
   bucket          = "mylogs.s3.amazonaws.com"
   prefix          = "myprefix"
 }

 aliases = ["mysite.example.com", "yoursite.example.com"]

 default_cache_behavior {
   allowed_methods  = ["DELETE", "GET", "HEAD", "OPTIONS", "PATCH", "POST", "PUT"]
   cached_methods   = ["GET", "HEAD"]
   target_origin_id = local.s3_origin_id

   forwarded_values {
     query_string = false

     cookies {
       forward = "none"
     }
   }

   viewer_protocol_policy = "allow-all"
   min_ttl                = 0
   default_ttl            = 3600
   max_ttl                = 86400
 }

 # Cache behavior with precedence 0
 ordered_cache_behavior {
   path_pattern     = "/content/immutable/*"
   allowed_methods  = ["GET", "HEAD", "OPTIONS"]
   cached_methods   = ["GET", "HEAD", "OPTIONS"]
   target_origin_id = local.s3_origin_id

   forwarded_values {
     query_string = false
     headers      = ["Origin"]

     cookies {
       forward = "none"
     }
   }

   min_ttl                = 0
   default_ttl            = 86400
   max_ttl                = 31536000
   compress               = true
   viewer_protocol_policy = "redirect-to-https"
 }

 # Cache behavior with precedence 1
 ordered_cache_behavior {
   path_pattern     = "/content/*"
   allowed_methods  = ["GET", "HEAD", "OPTIONS"]
   cached_methods   = ["GET", "HEAD"]
   target_origin_id = local.s3_origin_id

   forwarded_values {
     query_string = false

     cookies {
       forward = "none"
     }
   }

   min_ttl                = 0
   default_ttl            = 3600
   max_ttl                = 86400
   compress               = true
   viewer_protocol_policy = "redirect-to-https"
 }

 price_class = "PriceClass_200"

 restrictions {
   geo_restriction {
     restriction_type = "whitelist"
     locations        = ["US", "CA", "GB", "DE"]
   }
 }

 tags = {
   Environment = "production"
 }

 viewer_certificate {
   cloudfront_default_certificate = true
 }
}

Create
CloudFront
via CLI:
Parametres:

create-distribution
[--distribution-config <value>]
[--origin-domain-name <value>]
[--default-root-object <value>]
[--cli-input-json | --cli-input-yaml]
[--generate-cli-skeleton <value>]
[--debug]
[--endpoint-url <value>]
[--no-verify-ssl]
[--no-paginate]
[--output <value>]
[--query <value>]
[--profile <value>]
[--region <value>]
[--version <value>]
[--color <value>]
[--no-sign-request]
[--ca-bundle <value>]
[--cli-read-timeout <value>]
[--cli-connect-timeout <value>]
[--cli-binary-format <value>]
[--no-cli-pager]
[--cli-auto-prompt]
[--no-cli-auto-prompt]

Example:

aws cloudfront create-distribution \
   --origin-domain-name awsexamplebucket.s3.amazonaws.com \
   --default-root-object index.html

aws cost
Costs
CloudFront charges for the amount of data transferred through the service, with varying prices based on the geographical region in which the data is transferred and the type of content being delivered. You are also charged for the number of requests made to the service and the amount of storage used by the service. The cost of using CloudFront can vary based on the amount of data transferred, the number of requests made, and the amount of storage used.
Direct Cost

<Region>-Requests-Tier1

<Region>-Requests-HTTPS-Proxy

<Region>-DataTransfer-Out-Bytes

<Region>-Requests-Tier2-HTTPS

Indirect Cost
No items found.
Best Practices for
CloudFront

Categorized by Availability, Security & Compliance and Cost

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Critical
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Medium
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Critical
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Medium
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Medium
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Medium
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Critical
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