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Setting-Up-S3-for-Domain-Redirects.md

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Sections in this guide

Introduction

2 S3 buckets

We will use 2 buckets to cover the needs for HTTPS security, automatic redirection to the canonical site, and higher search engine ranking. The recommended setup is:

  • Core bucket to store site content for the full domain
  • Redirect bucket will foward apex domain requests to the core bucket

Use a fully qualified domain for the canonical site

  • Apex domain: example.com
  • Fully qualified domain: www.example.com

It's tempting to set up DNS to use the apex domain of example.com. This seems to create a simpler canonical base for all of your hyperlinks. An apex domain is created with a CNAME record. However, new DNS records can't be made from CNAME records.

For example, if you want to host email services on the apex domain, you won't be able to create the necessary MX records from a CNAME record.

It's better to start off all your hyperlinks with www.example.com (or any other subdomain like app.example.com). By using the www subdomain, you have more flexibility in creating additional DNS records for common situations like:

  • MX and SPF records for email services
  • TXT records for domain validation
  • Load balancing options to redirect traffic from subdomains. The "CNAME and A Name" combination records are tied to a raw IP address that can't be load balanced.

Avoid duplicate content

We will use the full domain www.example.com for the core bucket and create a second bucket to redirect the apex domain to the full domain. This configuration avoids content duplication, which lowers ranking scores on search engines.

Set up the core bucket

The core bucket will host your static website content. Replace example.com below with the domain of your website.

Create a new bucket

  1. Log into the management console, search for S3
  2. "Create Bucket" button
    • Bucket name: example.com
    • Region: US West (N. California) or other region closest to your upload source
    • Click "Next" button 2 times (skip "Configure options")
  3. "Configure options" screen S3 bucket options
    • Disable "Block all public access"
      • Enable "Block public access through new ACLs"
      • Enable "Block public access through any ACLs"
      • Leave as disabled "Block new public bucket policies"
      • Leave as disabled "Block any public bucket policies"
    • Press "Next" button
  4. "Review" screen > "Create bucket" button

Allow public read permissions

  1. Go back to the main bucket list, choose example.com
  2. "Permissions" tab > "Bucket Policy" tab Edit bucket name and add new policy
  3. Add the public read policy below by pasting it into the policy editor:
    • Replace the phrase YOURBUCKETNAME with example.com
    {
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Sid": "AddPerm",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Principal": "*",
      "Action": "s3:GetObject",
      "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::YOURBUCKETNAME/*"
    }
  ]
}
  4. Press "Save" button

Enable static website hosting

  1. Go back to the main bucket list, choose example.com
  2. "Properties" tab > "Static Website Hosting" > Enable option for "Use this bucket to host a website"
    • Index document: index.html
    • Error document: error.html
      • If React Router is handling 404s, you can use index.html
  3. Press "Save" button

Set up the redirect bucket

This separate bucket will redirect the apex domain to the core bucket that contains the site content.

  1. Log into the management console, search for S3
  2. Press "Create bucket" button
    • Bucket name: redirect-example.com
    • Region: US West (N. California) or same as source bucket
  3. Press "Next" button 2 times (skip "Configure options")
  4. "Set permissions" > leave all defaults intact > "Next" button > "Create bucket" button
  5. Go back to the main bucket list, choose redirect-example.com
  6. "Properties" tab > Static website hosting: Set up redirect to core bucket
    • Enable "Redirect requests" option
    • Target bucket or domain: www.example.com
  7. Press "Save" button

Canonical tags and path redirects

Although not required for a basic site, canonical tags can be added later to help boost search engine rankings. If you need Apache-style rewrite rules, S3 has a unique XML-based format. Both of these topics are covered in a separate guide.

Create, delete, and deploy to buckets in the CLI

You can create public buckets, delete buckets, and deploy new content using the terminal utilities.

Resources