AWS Website Setup Troubleshooting Guide

1. Certificate (ACM) Issues

Problem	Fix
Certificate stuck in “Pending Validation”	Add CNAME record from ACM into Route 53
CloudFront doesn’t see your certificate	Ensure cert is in us-east-1
Wrong domain in cert	Include exact domain (e.g. both `www.example.com` and `example.com`)

2. Route 53 DNS Issues

Problem	Fix
Domain doesn't point to site	Create A – Alias record to CloudFront distribution
Record pointing to wrong region	Use proper distribution URL like `d1234.cloudfront.net`
Propagation delay	Wait 15–30 minutes for DNS to update

3. CloudFront + S3 Origin Issues

Problem	Fix
403 Forbidden error	Set up Origin Access Control (OAC) or OAI properly
CloudFront shows error page	Ensure correct origin and index document is set

4. Domain Not Secure (HTTPS Problems)

Problem	Fix
Site not secure in browser	Use custom SSL cert in CloudFront
Redirect loop / no HTTPS	Set CloudFront behavior to redirect HTTP to HTTPS
S3 static hosting with HTTPS fails	Use CloudFront in front of S3

5. S3 Bucket Setup Mistakes

Problem	Fix
Files not loading	Make sure files are public or accessible via CloudFront
Wrong bucket policy	Apply correct policy allowing CloudFront access
Static hosting not enabled	Enable static website hosting with index.html

✅ Final Setup Checklist

ACM certificate is issued (in us-east-1 for CloudFront)
Route 53 DNS A record (alias) points to CloudFront
CloudFront has domain in Alternate CNAMEs + correct SSL cert
S3 bucket has website hosting enabled or OAC set
CloudFront distribution is deployed (may take 10–20 mins)
index.html file is uploaded and set as default root