A private S3 bucket, CloudFront, an ACM certificate, and DNS can work together to serve a static site over HTTPS without making the bucket public. The key choice is to use the S3 REST endpoint as CloudFront’s origin and protect it with Origin Access Control (OAC). AWS also recommends considering Amplify Hosting as a more managed route for content stored in S3; building the components yourself is useful when you want to understand how they fit together.
Understand what each AWS service does
Think of the setup as a delivery path, not a single website switch. A browser requests your custom hostname over HTTPS. CloudFront presents the certificate and either returns a cached object or requests it from S3. OAC signs and authorizes CloudFront’s origin requests, so S3 can remain private. If you use Route 53, its DNS record directs the hostname to the CloudFront distribution.
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- Amazon S3 stores the site’s static files, such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and images.
- CloudFront serves those files to visitors and can cache them at its edge locations.
- Origin Access Control (OAC) lets CloudFront make authorized requests to a private S3 origin.
- AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) supplies the certificate CloudFront uses for HTTPS between the viewer and distribution.
- DNS maps the custom hostname to CloudFront. Route 53 can do this with an alias record.
These roles are separate: a certificate does not configure DNS, DNS does not make an S3 bucket private, and enabling HTTPS for visitors does not by itself secure requests between CloudFront and its origin.
Choose the S3 origin that matches your security needs
“S3 static website hosting” can refer to two different endpoint patterns. The S3 website endpoint supports website-specific behavior, including index and error documents, but it is HTTP-only and generally depends on public access. AWS states, “Amazon S3 does not support HTTPS access to the website.” CloudFront can serve HTTPS to visitors in front of a website endpoint, but the connection from CloudFront to that endpoint is still HTTP.
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For a private bucket, use the S3 REST endpoint as the CloudFront origin and configure OAC. Then add a bucket policy that authorizes the intended CloudFront distribution. This design does not require enabling S3 static website hosting. AWS recommends OAC for new configurations; Origin Access Identity (OAI) is the older approach.
The distinction matters if you need website-endpoint-specific routing behavior. A REST origin with CloudFront is the right fit for private delivery, but it is not the same endpoint behavior as S3 website hosting. Decide which behavior your site needs before configuring the origin rather than switching endpoint types without accounting for the trade-off.
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AWS’s standard S3 website tutorial shows a different, public-bucket pattern: it disables Block Public Access and grants public reads. Treat that as a tutorial for a public website endpoint, not as a required step for a private CloudFront origin. For a private setup, keep S3 Block Public Access enabled and use OAC with the REST endpoint.
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Plan the custom domain and HTTPS path
For a custom hostname, the browser connects to CloudFront over HTTPS and CloudFront presents the ACM certificate associated with the distribution. DNS then directs the hostname to that distribution. In Route 53, an alias record can point a custom domain to CloudFront. Do not point an HTTPS hostname directly at an S3 website endpoint: that endpoint does not support SSL/TLS.
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Certificate validation, certificate association, and DNS routing are distinct tasks. The certificate must cover the hostname you intend to serve, and its validation must be completed before it can be used. Consult the current CloudFront alternate domain name and HTTPS requirements and ACM DNS validation guidance for the current certificate-region and validation requirements; don’t assume that creating a certificate in any region will make it available to CloudFront.
Build the private S3 and CloudFront setup
The core configuration is a private S3 REST origin, a CloudFront distribution that uses OAC, and a bucket policy scoped to that distribution. Exact console labels can change, so use AWS’s current S3 static website hosting and CloudFront guidance as the service reference while configuring the distribution.
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- Prepare the site files. Have an HTML entry page and its referenced assets ready. Decide whether visitors will use the distribution’s default hostname or a custom domain.
- Create an S3 bucket and keep it private. Do not grant anonymous read access or disable Block Public Access for this OAC design. Upload the site objects.
- Create a CloudFront distribution with the S3 REST endpoint as its origin. Do not select the S3 website endpoint when the goal is a private OAC-protected origin.
- Configure OAC and authorize the distribution. Associate an OAC with the origin, then ensure the bucket policy grants the distribution permission to read the required objects. Follow AWS’s current policy guidance rather than copying an old OAI example.
- Set the default root object or suitable routing behavior. Configure how CloudFront should handle a request for the site root, and account for any routing behavior your site requires.
- Request and validate the ACM certificate if using a custom hostname. Follow the current CloudFront and ACM requirements linked above, then associate the certificate and hostname with the distribution.
- Configure DNS. Create the appropriate record for the hostname pointing to CloudFront. With Route 53, use an alias record; for another DNS provider, use its supported CloudFront target configuration.
- Verify the deployed path. After distribution changes are deployed and certificate validation is complete, load the intended hostname over HTTPS. Confirm the expected page and assets appear, and confirm that anonymous requests cannot read the S3 objects directly.
CloudFront-to-viewer HTTPS and CloudFront-to-origin HTTPS are not interchangeable concepts. The S3 website endpoint supports only HTTP from CloudFront; AWS guidance calls for the S3 REST endpoint for HTTPS connections to S3. Using the REST endpoint with OAC also avoids needing to expose the bucket publicly.
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Decide whether to build it manually or use Amplify
AWS recommends considering Amplify Hosting for static website content stored in S3. Its managed path can deploy S3 content to a CloudFront-powered CDN and provide a public HTTPS URL. The manual setup makes the underlying services more visible, while the managed route reduces the amount of infrastructure configuration you handle directly.
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| Consideration | Manual S3, CloudFront, and ACM | Amplify Hosting |
|---|---|---|
| Learning and control | You configure and connect S3, OAC, CloudFront, the certificate, and DNS yourself. | AWS manages more of the hosting path; consult current Amplify documentation for the configuration options available. |
| Private-origin design | Use the S3 REST endpoint, OAC, and a bucket policy that authorizes the distribution. | AWS describes Amplify Hosting as deploying S3 content to a CloudFront-powered CDN; the cited guidance does not establish the exact origin-access settings for every Amplify configuration. |
| Custom domain | Configure the hostname, certificate, and DNS for the CloudFront distribution. | Amplify offers a managed hosting route; check its current documentation for custom-domain setup. |
| Cost and performance | Depend on usage and current AWS pricing; no universal result follows from the architecture alone. | Depend on usage and current AWS pricing; no universal price or performance winner is established. |
Choose the manual route when learning how the services work together is part of the project. Choose a managed route when reducing hands-on configuration is more important than seeing each infrastructure component separately.
Check the result and clean up a learning project
- Open the intended hostname over HTTPS and check that the page and linked assets load.
- Check that the certificate is valid for the hostname and that DNS directs visitors to CloudFront.
- Verify that the S3 bucket still blocks public access and that the CloudFront distribution is authorized by the bucket policy.
- Remove learning resources you no longer need. AWS’s S3 tutorial specifically reminds readers to clean up resources created for an exercise; ongoing charges depend on the services and usage, and current prices were not established here.
For an additional architecture reference, AWS’s secure static site sample illustrates the high-level CloudFront, S3, ACM, and security-header path. Its OAI implementation is legacy; use current OAC guidance for a new private-origin setup.
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