AWS Hosting

AWS provides the broadest set of cloud services. This skill covers the most common hosting patterns for web applications, APIs, and background services, with infrastructure-as-code via AWS CDK.

Architecture Decision Tree

What are you deploying?
├─ Static site (HTML/CSS/JS) ──────────> S3 + CloudFront
├─ Server-rendered app (Next.js, etc.) ─> ECS Fargate or Lambda
├─ REST/GraphQL API ───────────────────> Lambda + API Gateway OR ECS Fargate + ALB
├─ Long-running background workers ────> ECS Fargate (always-on) or EC2
├─ Event-driven functions ─────────────> Lambda (triggered by SQS, S3, EventBridge)
├─ Containerized microservices ────────> ECS Fargate + ALB + Service Connect
└─ Full control over the VM ───────────> EC2 (last resort)

EC2 — Virtual Machines

Use EC2 only when you need full OS-level control, GPU instances, or specific hardware. For most web apps, prefer ECS Fargate or Lambda.

// CDK: EC2 instance
import * as ec2 from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-ec2';

const vpc = new ec2.Vpc(this, 'Vpc', { maxAzs: 2 });

const instance = new ec2.Instance(this, 'WebServer', {
  vpc,
  instanceType: ec2.InstanceType.of(ec2.InstanceClass.T3, ec2.InstanceSize.MICRO),
  machineImage: ec2.MachineImage.latestAmazonLinux2023(),
  keyPair: ec2.KeyPair.fromKeyPairName(this, 'KeyPair', 'my-key'),
});

instance.connections.allowFromAnyIpv4(ec2.Port.tcp(80));
instance.connections.allowFromAnyIpv4(ec2.Port.tcp(443));

ECS Fargate — Serverless Containers

The standard choice for containerized web applications. No servers to manage, auto-scaling built in.

import * as ecs from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-ecs';
import * as ecsPatterns from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-ecs-patterns';

const cluster = new ecs.Cluster(this, 'Cluster', { vpc });

// Web service with ALB (most common pattern)
const service = new ecsPatterns.ApplicationLoadBalancedFargateService(this, 'WebApp', {
  cluster,
  cpu: 512,
  memoryLimitMiB: 1024,
  desiredCount: 2,
  taskImageOptions: {
    image: ecs.ContainerImage.fromAsset('./'),  // Build from Dockerfile in root
    containerPort: 3000,
    environment: {
      NODE_ENV: 'production',
      DATABASE_URL: databaseUrl,
    },
  },
  publicLoadBalancer: true,
});

// Auto-scaling
const scaling = service.service.autoScaleTaskCount({ maxCapacity: 10 });
scaling.scaleOnCpuUtilization('CpuScaling', {
  targetUtilizationPercent: 70,
});
scaling.scaleOnMemoryUtilization('MemoryScaling', {
  targetUtilizationPercent: 80,
});

ECS with custom task definition

const taskDef = new ecs.FargateTaskDefinition(this, 'TaskDef', {
  cpu: 1024,
  memoryLimitMiB: 2048,
});

taskDef.addContainer('app', {
  image: ecs.ContainerImage.fromEcrRepository(repo, 'latest'),
  portMappings: [{ containerPort: 3000 }],
  logging: ecs.LogDrivers.awsLogs({ streamPrefix: 'app' }),
  healthCheck: {
    command: ['CMD-SHELL', 'curl -f http://localhost:3000/health || exit 1'],
    interval: cdk.Duration.seconds(30),
    timeout: cdk.Duration.seconds(5),
    retries: 3,
  },
});

Lambda — Serverless Functions

Best for event-driven workloads, APIs with variable traffic, and cost-sensitive projects.

import * as lambda from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-lambda';
import * as lambdaNode from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-lambda-nodejs';

const handler = new lambdaNode.NodejsFunction(this, 'ApiHandler', {
  runtime: lambda.Runtime.NODEJS_20_X,
  entry: 'src/lambda/handler.ts',
  handler: 'handler',
  memorySize: 512,
  timeout: cdk.Duration.seconds(30),
  environment: {
    DATABASE_URL: databaseUrl,
  },
  bundling: {
    minify: true,
    sourceMap: true,
  },
});

Lambda handler pattern

// src/lambda/handler.ts
import type { APIGatewayProxyHandlerV2 } from 'aws-lambda';

export const handler: APIGatewayProxyHandlerV2 = async (event) => {
  const body = JSON.parse(event.body ?? '{}');

  return {
    statusCode: 200,
    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
    body: JSON.stringify({ message: 'OK', data: body }),
  };
};

Lambda limitations

API Gateway

HTTP API (v2) — Recommended

import * as apigwv2 from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-apigatewayv2';
import * as integrations from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-apigatewayv2-integrations';

const httpApi = new apigwv2.HttpApi(this, 'Api', {
  corsPreflight: {
    allowOrigins: ['https://myapp.com'],
    allowMethods: [apigwv2.CorsHttpMethod.GET, apigwv2.CorsHttpMethod.POST],
    allowHeaders: ['Content-Type', 'Authorization'],
  },
});

httpApi.addRoutes({
  path: '/users/{id}',
  methods: [apigwv2.HttpMethod.GET],
  integration: new integrations.HttpLambdaIntegration('GetUser', handler),
});

REST API (v1) — When you need request validation, API keys, or usage plans

import * as apigw from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-apigateway';

const api = new apigw.RestApi(this, 'RestApi', {
  restApiName: 'MyService',
  deployOptions: { stageName: 'prod' },
});

const users = api.root.addResource('users');
users.addMethod('GET', new apigw.LambdaIntegration(handler));

CloudFront CDN

import * as cloudfront from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-cloudfront';
import * as origins from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-cloudfront-origins';
import * as s3 from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-s3';

const siteBucket = new s3.Bucket(this, 'SiteBucket', {
  blockPublicAccess: s3.BlockPublicAccess.BLOCK_ALL,
});

const distribution = new cloudfront.Distribution(this, 'CDN', {
  defaultBehavior: {
    origin: origins.S3BucketOrigin.withOriginAccessControl(siteBucket),
    viewerProtocolPolicy: cloudfront.ViewerProtocolPolicy.REDIRECT_TO_HTTPS,
    cachePolicy: cloudfront.CachePolicy.CACHING_OPTIMIZED,
  },
  defaultRootObject: 'index.html',
  errorResponses: [
    {
      httpStatus: 404,
      responsePagePath: '/index.html',  // SPA fallback
      responseHttpStatus: 200,
    },
  ],
});

Route 53 DNS

import * as route53 from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-route53';
import * as targets from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-route53-targets';

const zone = route53.HostedZone.fromLookup(this, 'Zone', {
  domainName: 'example.com',
});

new route53.ARecord(this, 'SiteAlias', {
  zone,
  recordName: 'app',  // app.example.com
  target: route53.RecordTarget.fromAlias(
    new targets.CloudFrontTarget(distribution)
  ),
});

RDS — Relational Database

import * as rds from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-rds';

const database = new rds.DatabaseInstance(this, 'Database', {
  engine: rds.DatabaseInstanceEngine.postgres({
    version: rds.PostgresEngineVersion.VER_16_4,
  }),
  instanceType: ec2.InstanceType.of(ec2.InstanceClass.T3, ec2.InstanceSize.MICRO),
  vpc,
  vpcSubnets: { subnetType: ec2.SubnetType.PRIVATE_WITH_EGRESS },
  databaseName: 'myapp',
  credentials: rds.Credentials.fromGeneratedSecret('dbadmin'),
  multiAz: false,                    // true for production
  allocatedStorage: 20,
  maxAllocatedStorage: 100,          // Auto-scaling storage
  backupRetention: cdk.Duration.days(7),
  deletionProtection: true,          // Prevent accidental deletion
});

// Allow ECS tasks to connect
database.connections.allowFrom(service.service, ec2.Port.tcp(5432));

ElastiCache — Redis

import * as elasticache from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-elasticache';

const subnetGroup = new elasticache.CfnSubnetGroup(this, 'RedisSubnets', {
  description: 'Subnets for Redis',
  subnetIds: vpc.privateSubnets.map(s => s.subnetId),
});

const redis = new elasticache.CfnCacheCluster(this, 'Redis', {
  cacheNodeType: 'cache.t3.micro',
  engine: 'redis',
  numCacheNodes: 1,
  cacheSubnetGroupName: subnetGroup.ref,
  vpcSecurityGroupIds: [redisSecurityGroup.securityGroupId],
});

IAM Best Practices

import * as iam from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-iam';

// Principle of least privilege — grant only what is needed
handler.addToRolePolicy(new iam.PolicyStatement({
  actions: ['s3:GetObject', 's3:PutObject'],
  resources: [`${bucket.bucketArn}/uploads/*`],   // Scoped to prefix
}));

// Never use wildcards for actions in production
// BAD:  actions: ['s3:*']
// GOOD: actions: ['s3:GetObject', 's3:PutObject']

// Use managed policies for common patterns
taskDef.taskRole.addManagedPolicy(
  iam.ManagedPolicy.fromAwsManagedPolicyName('AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess')
);

IAM Anti-Patterns

Action: '*'

Resource: '*'

AWS CDK — Infrastructure as Code

pnpm add -D aws-cdk-lib constructs
npx cdk init app --language typescript

CDK Project Structure

infra/
  bin/app.ts          # Entry point — instantiates stacks
  lib/
    network-stack.ts  # VPC, subnets, security groups
    compute-stack.ts  # ECS, Lambda
    data-stack.ts     # RDS, ElastiCache, S3
    cdn-stack.ts      # CloudFront, Route 53

CDK Commands

npx cdk synth        # Generate CloudFormation template
npx cdk diff         # Preview changes
npx cdk deploy       # Deploy all stacks
npx cdk deploy ComputeStack  # Deploy specific stack
npx cdk destroy      # Tear down

CDK Stack Pattern

import * as cdk from 'aws-cdk-lib';
import { Construct } from 'constructs';

export class ComputeStack extends cdk.Stack {
  public readonly serviceUrl: string;

  constructor(scope: Construct, id: string, props: cdk.StackProps & {
    vpc: ec2.IVpc;
    databaseUrl: string;
  }) {
    super(scope, id, props);

    // Resources defined here
    // Export values for cross-stack references
    this.serviceUrl = service.loadBalancer.loadBalancerDnsName;
  }
}

CloudWatch Monitoring

import * as cloudwatch from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-cloudwatch';
import * as actions from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-cloudwatch-actions';
import * as sns from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-sns';

const alarmTopic = new sns.Topic(this, 'AlarmTopic');

// ECS CPU alarm
new cloudwatch.Alarm(this, 'HighCpu', {
  metric: service.service.metricCpuUtilization(),
  threshold: 80,
  evaluationPeriods: 3,
  comparisonOperator: cloudwatch.ComparisonOperator.GREATER_THAN_THRESHOLD,
}).addAlarmAction(new actions.SnsAction(alarmTopic));

// Lambda error rate alarm
new cloudwatch.Alarm(this, 'LambdaErrors', {
  metric: handler.metricErrors({ period: cdk.Duration.minutes(5) }),
  threshold: 5,
  evaluationPeriods: 1,
}).addAlarmAction(new actions.SnsAction(alarmTopic));

// Custom dashboard
const dashboard = new cloudwatch.Dashboard(this, 'AppDashboard');
dashboard.addWidgets(
  new cloudwatch.GraphWidget({
    title: 'ECS CPU & Memory',
    left: [service.service.metricCpuUtilization()],
    right: [service.service.metricMemoryUtilization()],
  }),
);

Cost Optimization

Fargate Spot for cost savings

const service = new ecsPatterns.ApplicationLoadBalancedFargateService(this, 'App', {
  cluster,
  capacityProviderStrategies: [
    { capacityProvider: 'FARGATE_SPOT', weight: 2 },
    { capacityProvider: 'FARGATE', weight: 1 },     // Fallback to on-demand
  ],
  taskImageOptions: { image: ecs.ContainerImage.fromAsset('./') },
});

Common Architecture Patterns

Static Site

Route 53 -> CloudFront -> S3 (static files)

API + Database

Route 53 -> CloudFront -> API Gateway -> Lambda -> RDS
                                               -> ElastiCache (caching)

Containerized Web App

Route 53 -> CloudFront -> ALB -> ECS Fargate (2+ tasks)
                                      |
                                 RDS (private subnet)

Event-Driven Processing

S3 upload -> EventBridge -> Lambda -> DynamoDB
SQS queue -> Lambda -> External API
Schedule  -> EventBridge -> Lambda -> SNS notification

Anti-Patterns

/health

cdk.Stack.of(this).region

cdk destroy

deletionProtection: true

removalPolicy: RETAIN