🚀 Hosting a Static Website on AWS S3(After EC2)

🔥 Quick Recap

In my previous article , we spun up an EC2 instance, configured Apache, and hosted a static website the traditional way.

Today, we're taking a lighter, serverless approach, hosting a static website using Amazon S3.

No servers to manage. No SSH logins. Just pure, clean static site hosting. Let’s get into it! 🚀

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🧰 What You’ll Need

• An AWS account
• A static website (you can build yours or grab a free one from Tooplate.com.
• Basic familiarity with the AWS Console

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📖 Walkthrough: Hosting a Static Website on S3

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🛒 Step 1: Create an S3 Bucket

1. Head over to the AWS S3 Console.
2. Click on Create Bucket.
3. Give your bucket a globally unique name in my case "drinkscentral".
4. Notice that public access is blocked by default, but don't worry, we'll come back to fix that. 😉
5. Click Create Bucket.

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📤 Step 2: Upload Your Website Files

After creating the bucket:

1. Click into your newly created bucket.
2. Hit Upload then click Add Files.
3. Select the files you downloaded from Tooplate.com (or your own static site).
4. Click Upload.

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🔓 Step 3: Set Public Access

Remember earlier when I said public access was blocked? Time to fix that.

1. Go to the Permissions tab.
2. Under Block Public Access, click Edit.
3. Untick the options that block public access.
4. Save changes.

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🛡️ Step 4: Enable ACLs (Access Control Lists)

Why enable ACL?

ACLs let us manually grant permissions to individual objects, like making our uploaded website files publicly readable.

1. Still in the Permissions tab, scroll to Object Ownership.
2. Click Edit.
3. Select ACLs enabled.
4. Acknowledge and save changes.

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🌍 Step 5: Make Objects Public

Now that ACLs are enabled:

1. Go back to the Objects tab.
2. Select all uploaded files.
3. Click Actions then Make public using ACL.

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⚙️ Step 6: Enable Static Website Hosting

Finally, let's tell S3 that this bucket is a website.

1. Go to the Properties tab.
2. Scroll down to Static website hosting.
3. Click Edit then Enable.
4. Enter:
   • Index document: index.html
   • (Optional) Error document: error.html
5. Save changes.

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🌐 Step 7: Access Your Live Website!

You're done! 🎉

1. Still in the Properties tab, scroll down to Static Website Hosting.
2. Copy the Bucket Website Endpoint link.
3. Paste it into your browser.

Boom 💥 your static site is live, hosted on AWS S3!

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🆚 EC2 vs S3 for Static Websites

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🏁 Final Thoughts

In our previous EC2 approach, we had to spin up servers, configure Apache, and manage everything.

Here on S3, it's simply upload → tweak permissions → launch. Easy, scalable, and super cost-effective.

S3 static hosting is good for portfolios, landing pages, and lightweight projects.

Stay tuned as I continue learning, maybe we'll set up CloudFront, SSL, and custom domains next. 👀

Thanks for following along!

Until next time,

- Oluwaseyi 😁✌️

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📚 Useful Resources

• Amazon S3 Static Website Hosting Documentation
• Toolplate - Free Static Site Templates