Architecture Details
1. Domain Management
GoDaddy to AWS Route 53: The domain (mycustomdomain.co.uk) was purchased from GoDaddy and transferred to AWS Route 53. This allows for scalable and reliable DNS management.
2. Frontend Design
Amazon Lightsail: The WordPress site is hosted on Amazon Lightsail, providing a simplified platform with easy deployment and management of the WordPress environment.
2.B) EC2 deployment is also no issue but i wanted to demonstrate the use of VPC peering from AWS lightsail. We can all make subnets, security groups,Nacl’s and route tables.
WordPress API and Plugins: Various plugins and the WordPress API were utilized to extend functionality and integrate with the AWS backend.
3. Network Configuration
VPC Peering: A Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) peering connection is established between two VPCs—one for the Lightsail instance and another for the backend services.
Subnets: The architecture includes both public and private subnets within the backend VPC. The public subnet hosts the Application Load Balancer, while the private subnet contains databases and Lambda functions.
4. Security
AWS WAF and CloudFront: AWS Web Application Firewall (WAF) and Amazon CloudFront are used to enhance security and improve content delivery performance.
AWS Certificate Manager: SSL certificates are managed by AWS Certificate Manager, ensuring secure HTTPS connections.
5. Backend Services
Application Load Balancer: Distributes incoming traffic to the backend services, ensuring load balancing and high availability.
Amazon API Gateway: Facilitates API management, acting as a gateway for the Lambda functions.
AWS Lambda Functions: Several Lambda functions handle specific tasks such as daily joke delivery, fetching the latest news, and contact form submissions.
6. Data Management
Databases: The architecture includes databases for storing subscriber information and news articles, housed in the private subnet for security.
Amazon SES: Simple Email Service (SES) is used for sending Emails and notifications to subscribers and the website owner.
7. Automation and Scheduling
AWS EventBridge: Used for scheduling daily events such as fetching news and sending daily jokes via email.
S3 Buckets: Amazon S3 buckets are used for storing and transforming HTML files and for portfolio uploads, ensuring efficient file management.
Workflow Summary
Frontend Request Handling:
Users access the website through the domain managed by Route 53.
The request is routed through CloudFront and WAF for security and performance.
The Application Load Balancer distributes the request to the appropriate backend services.
Backend Processing:
API Gateway routes API requests to the respective Lambda functions.
Lambda functions interact with databases to fetch or store data as needed.
Notifications and emails are sent using SNS and EventBridge based on scheduled events or user interactions.
Content Management:
WordPress backend interacts with AWS services through the WordPress API.
Static content and uploads are managed via S3 buckets, ensuring scalability and reliability.
Conclusion
This architecture ensures that my portfolio website is not only visually appealing and user-friendly but also highly secure, scalable, and efficient. By leveraging AWS services, the website can handle varying traffic loads, provide fast content delivery, and maintain high availability, all while ensuring data security and seamless backend integration.