Building a Scalable and Reliable Rental Property Website on AWS
Published: 2024-07-13 22:26:08

Building a rental property website that’s both reliable and scalable, all while keeping costs down? AWS offers a suite of services that can help you build a robust application within your budget. In this project, I will walk you through the steps to set up your rental property website using AWS.

### Step 1: Setup S3 and CloudFront
First, we’ll host our website’s static content on Amazon S3 and use CloudFront for fast and secure content delivery.
      Create an S3 Bucket for Static Website Hosting
        Go to the S3 Console: S3 Console.
	Create a Bucket:
	Click “Create bucket.”
	Enter a bucket name, like rental-property-website, and choose a 
        region.
	Click “Create bucket.”
      Enable Static Website Hosting:
	Select the bucket you created.
	Go to the “Properties” tab.
	Enable “Static website hosting.”
	Specify the index document (index.html) and error document 
        (error.html).
Explanation: Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) is used for storing static website files such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. By enabling static website hosting, your S3 bucket will serve your website directly.
      Upload Static Website Content to S3
	Go to the “Objects” Tab in your S3 bucket.
	Upload Your Website Files:
	Click “Upload” and add your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files.
Explanation: Upload your static website content to the S3 bucket so it can be served to users.
      Create a CloudFront Distribution
	Go to the CloudFront Console: CloudFront Console.
	Create a Distribution:
	Click “Create Distribution.”
	Select “Web” for the delivery method.
	For the origin domain, select your S3 bucket.
	Configure other settings as needed (e.g., default root object to 
        index.html).
	Click “Create Distribution.”
Explanation: Amazon CloudFront is a Content Delivery Network (CDN) that caches your static files at edge locations around the world, reducing latency and improving load times for your users.

### Step 2: Deploy Lambda Functions and API Gateway
Next, we’ll set up our backend logic using AWS Lambda and expose it through API Gateway.
      Create Lambda Functions
	Go to the Lambda Console: Lambda Console.
	Create a New Function:
	Click “Create function.”
	Select “Author from scratch.”
	Give your function a name, such as rentalPropertyFunction, and 
        choose a runtime (e.g., Node.js, Python).
	Click “Create function.”
	Write the Function Code:
	Implement your backend logic (CRUD operations for properties, 
        user management, bookings).
	Click “Deploy.”
Explanation: AWS Lambda lets you run code without provisioning or managing servers. You can use Lambda functions to handle backend operations for your website.
      Create an API Gateway
	Go to the API Gateway Console: API Gateway Console.
	Create an API:
	Click “Create API” and select “HTTP API.”
	Click “Build.”
	Define API Settings:
	Add routes for your API (e.g., /properties, /users, /bookings).
	Integrate each route with the corresponding Lambda function.
	Deploy the API and note the endpoint URL.
Explanation: Amazon API Gateway is a fully managed service that makes it easy to create, publish, maintain, monitor, and secure APIs. It serves as a "front door" for applications to access data, business logic, or functionality from your backend services.

### Step 3: Configure the Database
Now, let’s set up a database to store your property listings, user data, and bookings.
Launch an RDS Instance
      Go to the RDS Console: RDS Console.
	Create a Database:
	Click “Create database.”
	Select “Standard create” and choose the database engine (e.g., 
        MySQL, PostgreSQL).
	Configure instance details and select a cost-effective instance 
        type (e.g., db.t3.micro).
	Enable Multi-AZ for high availability.
	Configure database settings (e.g., DB instance identifier, master 
        username, and password).
	Click “Create database.”
Explanation: Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service) is a managed relational database service that provides easy setup, operation, and scaling of a relational database in the cloud. It handles routine database tasks such as backups, patching, and scaling.
        Create a DynamoDB Table
	Go to the DynamoDB Console: DynamoDB Console.
	Create a Table:
	Click “Create table.”
	Enter a table name (e.g., RentalProperties).
	Define the primary key (e.g., PropertyID).
	Configure other settings as needed.
	Click “Create table.”
Explanation: Amazon DynamoDB is a fast and flexible NoSQL database service for all applications that need consistent, single-digit millisecond latency at any scale. It is a fully managed database and supports both document and key-value store models.

### Step 4: Setup Cognito for Authentication
To manage user authentication, we’ll set up Amazon Cognito.
      Create a Cognito User Pool
	Go to the Cognito Console: Cognito Console.
	Create a User Pool:
	Click “Manage User Pools” and then “Create a user pool.”
	Enter a pool name, such as rentalPropertyUserPool.
	Configure sign-in options (e.g., email, username).
	Configure user attributes and policies.
	Click “Create pool.”
Explanation: Amazon Cognito provides authentication, authorization, and user management for your web and mobile apps. Your users can sign in directly with a username and password or through third parties like Facebook, Amazon, or Google.
        Setup Cognito User Pool Integration
	Integrate Cognito in Your Lambda Functions:
	Use AWS SDK to authenticate and manage users.
Explanation: Integrating Cognito with your Lambda functions allows you to handle user authentication and management securely and efficiently.

### Step 5: Configure Route 53
We’ll use Route 53 for domain management and DNS routing.
      Register a Domain or Use an Existing One
	Go to the Route 53 Console: Route 53 Console.
	Register a Domain:
	Click “Registered domains” and then “Register Domain” to purchase 
        a new domain.
	Follow the prompts to register the domain.
Explanation: Amazon Route 53 is a scalable and highly available Domain Name System (DNS) web service designed to route end users to Internet applications.
      Create DNS Records
	Set Up DNS Records:
	Go to the “Hosted zones” in Route 53 and select your domain.
	Create an A record pointing to your CloudFront distribution.
Explanation: DNS records are used to direct traffic to your CloudFront distribution, ensuring that your website is accessible via your custom domain.

### Step 6: Implement Monitoring and Logging
Finally, we’ll set up CloudWatch to monitor our application and log critical metrics.
      Enable CloudWatch for Monitoring
	Go to the CloudWatch Console: CloudWatch Console.
	Configure CloudWatch Logs:
	Set up logging for your Lambda functions.
	Set Up CloudWatch Alarms:
	Create alarms for critical metrics (e.g., Lambda errors, RDS CPU utilization).
Explanation: Amazon CloudWatch is a monitoring and observability service built for DevOps engineers, developers, site reliability engineers (SREs), and IT managers. CloudWatch provides data and actionable insights to monitor your applications, respond to system-wide performance changes, optimize resource utilization, and get a unified view of operational health.

### Final Steps
Test Your Website: Ensure all parts (static content, API, database, authentication) are working as expected.
Optimize Costs: Regularly review your AWS usage and cost reports to identify potential savings.

By following these steps, you can create a robust rental property website using AWS services, ensuring scalability, reliability, and cost-efficiency. Happy building!