Completing the AWS Cloud Resume Challenge

📋 Introduction

I recently completed the AWS Cloud Resume Challenge - an excellent hands-on project that combines cloud infrastructure, serverless architecture, and Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) practices. Here’s my journey through the challenge:

🏗️ Architecture Overview

Key Components:

Frontend: Static website hosted in S3
Visitor Counter: Lambda function triggered via API Gateway
Data Storage: DynamoDB table for view counts
DNS Management: Cloudflare for domain routing
IaC: Terraform for infrastructure provisioning

🛠️ Implementation Steps

1. Infrastructure as Code with Terraform

module "website" {
    source = "./modules/website"

    aws_region           = var.aws_region
    site_folder          = var.site_folder
    site_index_file      = var.site_index_file
    site_error_file      = var.site_error_file
    site_domain          = var.site_domain
    cloudflare_api_token = var.cloudflare_api_token
    cloudflare_zone_id   = var.cloudflare_zone_id
}

module "function" {
    source              = "./modules/function"
    aws_region          = var.aws_region
}

Function Module: Creates Lambda, API Gateway, and DynamoDB
Website Module: Configures S3 bucket and Cloudflare DNS

2. Serverless Backend

import json
import boto3
from decimal import Decimal

class DecimalEncoder(json.JSONEncoder):
    def default(self, obj):
        if isinstance(obj, Decimal):
            return int(obj)
        return super().default(obj)

dynamodb = boto3.resource('dynamodb')
table = dynamodb.Table('countdb')

def set_headers(response):
    response['headers'] = {
        'Access-Control-Allow-Origin': '*',
        'Access-Control-Allow-Methods': 'GET',
        'Access-Control-Allow-Headers': 'Content-Type',
        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    }
    return response

def handler(event, context):
    try:
        # Get current view count
        response = table.get_item(Key={'id': '1'})
        current_views = response.get('Item', {'views': 0}).get('views', 0)

        # Increment count
        new_views = current_views + 1
        table.put_item(Item={'id': '1', 'views': new_views})

        # Return response
        return set_headers({
            'statusCode': 200,
            'body': json.dumps({'views': new_views}, cls=DecimalEncoder)
        })

    except Exception as e:
        return set_headers({
            'statusCode': 500,
            'body': json.dumps({'error': f'Internal error: {str(e)}'})
        })

Lambda function updates DynamoDB counter on each API call
API Gateway provides HTTPS endpoint

3. Frontend Implementation

export async function getViews(): Promise<number> {
  try {
    const response = await fetch(API_URL, {
      method: 'GET',
      mode: 'cors',
      headers: {
        'Accept': 'application/json',
        'Origin': window.location.origin,
      },
      credentials: 'omit'
    });

    if (!response.ok) {
      console.error('API Error:', response.status, response.statusText);
      throw new Error('Network response was not ok');
    }

    const data = await response.json();
    return data.views;
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Error fetching view count:', error);
    return 0;
  }
}

Static site built with Next.js
Fetches count from API Gateway endpoint
Automated deployment via Terraform

🔑 Key Learnings

Infrastructure as Code Power:
- Terraform enabled reproducible environment setup
- Modular structure simplified component management
Serverless Benefits:
- Cost-effective scaling with Lambda
- Managed services reduced operational overhead
CI/CD Foundations:
- Automated deployments via Terraform workflows
- Version-controlled infrastructure changes

🚀 Try It Yourself!

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/nuanv/CRC-AWS.git

Deploy infrastructure:

terraform apply -target=module.function
terraform apply -target=module.website

Visit your personalized resume site: https://your-domain.com

📈 Results

The final implementation features:

100% serverless architecture
Global accessibility via Cloudflare DNS
Cost under $1/month
Automated infrastructure provisioning

🔗 Resources

Special thanks to the Cloud Resume Challenge creators for this excellent learning opportunity!