CODEWITHSUNDEEP
node.jsamazon-web-servicesexpressamazon-s3
ad_9888
ad_9888

Reputation: 31

How do I use AWS S3 to host a static express/nodeJS page?

I am new to nodejs/express/coding in general so my apologies if this isn't extremely clear. I am doing a code challenge for a job.

I have most of the project done. Part of the challenge is to have it uploaded to a bucket on S3. I created a bucket, that is all done. My problem is there needs to be a index.html in the root folder of the bucket (I think). All of my html pages (three of them) sit inside of the views directory. When I try to put my index.html in the root folder on cloud9, it says index.html can't be found in the views directory (obviously, since I moved it out). Can I set the views directory to be in the root folder?

Is there a way with express/nodeJS to have all of the files in the root folder? Or is there a way to keep my views folder as it is in Cloud9 and have everything run like it does from there, except in S3? I must be missing something. I am completely lost as to how to host this app on S3. Posting on here was my last resort! Thanks for any help.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 12091

Answers (2)

Ashan
Ashan

Reputation: 19728

When you move your static files to S3, you will need to setup the relative paths accordingly.

Can I set the views directory to be in the root folder?

No. Instead organize your files in S3 where index.html is the root and files with paths such as js/ css/ images/ taken from the root folder.

Note: Its important to understand that you cannot run NodeJS in S3 and instead you will be using the internal web hosting from S3 to serve the static content.

Upvotes: 1

radar155
radar155

Reputation: 2220

Let's make order. Amazon S3 is a cloud file storage service. It can also be used to host static assets of a website.

From what I understand, you are building something with express, using the view directory, used in general for templates and so, I suppose, you are rendering your html pages by your express application. This is called server side rendering and is fully incompatible with amazon s3 that can only serve files.

Now, how can you resolve the problem (considering that you are obliged to use s3)? It depends.

If you are using express only to render your application and to serve static assets (so no API), you should consider some refactoring: in such case, you are basically building a web application without APIs. You don't need express. Maybe you are searching for a client side framework like Vue.js, React or Angular. To be more general, you should render your application client side.

If your express server is also acting as api server, you should divide your project. From one side you have your express api server, deployed somewhere. From the other side, you have your web app, client side rendered.

There is another solution: you could use a prerender like this to generate static assets from your express application. But if you are new to web developement, I advise you not to evaluate this option

Upvotes: 4

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