Cloud Resume Challenge

Forrest Brazeal developed the Cloud Resume Challenge as an independent and interactive undertaking aimed at integrating a diverse set of skills employed by DevOps Engineers and Cloud Developers.

The objective of this challenge is to emphasize the importance of self-directed learning by providing limited instructions regarding researching, navigating, and implementing fundamental subjects like DNS, APIs, Testing, Infrastructure-as-Code, and CI/CD pipelines.

My website is built on AWS using S3, CloudFront, Route 53, Certificate Manager, Lambda, DynamoDB, API Gateway, and the Boto3 Python SDK.

Infrastructure-as-Code is implemented using AWS Python CDK, and two CI/CD pipelines are triggered and executed using GitHub Actions. Although the challenge requires the use of Terraform, I had already begun learning AWS Python CDK. Therefore, I decided to leverage the opportunity of building the Cloud Resume Challenge infrastructure to enhance my knowledge of AWS CDK.

View the site at www.sidor.me.

Workflow Diagram

Stack Architecture Diagram

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Challenge Steps & Notes:

• 1. Earn an AWS Certification

  • AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate, September 2022
  • AWS Certified Security – Specialty, March 2023

• 2. Write Resume in HTML

  • used a free Bootstrap template

• 3. Style Resume in CSS

  • added styles for displaying certificates and visitors counter

• 4. Deploy Resume to Static Website with AWS S3

  • the S3 bucket is configured as the first origin and exposed via Cloudfront
  • public access is restricted only via the Cloudfront distribution by utilized OAC (origin access control)
  • Block Public Access is ON & static website feature disabled for compatibility with OAC

• 5. Use HTTPS Protocol with AWS CloudFront

  • redirects any HTTP requests to HTTPS
  • uses AWS issued SSL certificate
  • the bucket's resource policy is configured to enforce TLS
  • security headers configured for the distribution

• 6. Point Custom DNS Domain Name with AWS Route 53

  • custom domain purchased through Route 53
  • a CNAME record points the domain name to Cloudfront distribution

• 7. Create a Webpage Visitor Counter with JavaScript

  • on loading the website, GET request sent to the API to retrieve the updated counter value
  • latest number of page views displayed to visitor at page bottom

• 8. Create a Visitor Counter Database with AWS DynamoDB

  • a table holds single record with single attribute which is updated by Lambda function

• 9. Do Not Communicate Directly With DynamoDB

  • REST API configured as the second origin for the Cloudfront distribution, allowing for GET request
  • REST API can be invoked only via the Cloudfront distribution and proxies the API call to a Lambda function
  • on website loading, API call is made, Lambda function is invoked
  • function checks latest count from table, increments by 1, and writes back to the table
  • the updated counter value is returned in JSON body

• 10. Perform Tests on Python Code

  • tests run using pytest and moto frameworks for lambda testing locally
  • pytest framework is used for testing CloudFormation template synthesis

• 11. Configure Resources with IaC

  • IaC configured using AWS Python CDK
  • The app contains 2 stacks:
    • Frontend infrastructure, S3WebsiteStack
    • Backend infrastructure, ApiGwDdbStack

• 12. Utilize Source Control with GitHub

  • all code related to infrastructure stored in a GitHub repository
  • version control utilized to track changes and capture development over time

• 13. Implement Backend CI/CD with GitHub Actions

  • workflows are triggered by a push event, or manually by workflow_dispatch
  • workflow runs on GitHub-hosted Linux runner
  • Python dependencies installed on runner per requirements.txt file using pip
  • GitHub Actions configured as trusted identity provider with AWS, utilizing OpenID Connect token-based authentication for short-lived credentials
  • ARN of GitHub Actions IAM Role passed into workflow file as an environmental variable using GitHub repository secrets

• 14. Implement Frontend CI/CD for Webpage Content with GitHub Actions

  • a workflow is defined to trigger on push event
  • GitHub repo is synchronized to the S3 bucket
  • CloudFront caching is disabled while in development
  • invalidation script will be created after the release

• 15. Share Your Challenges and Learnings with a Blog Post