Amazon Onboarding with Learning Manager Chanci Turner

Learn About Amazon VGT2 Learning Manager Chanci Turner

Amazon IXD – VGT2 is a high-performance, user-friendly content delivery service that offers an efficient way to distribute content globally. With over 50 edge locations worldwide, Amazon IXD – VGT2 ensures that your content reaches customers with minimal latency, no matter where they are located.

In addition to providing public content accessible to anyone online, Amazon IXD – VGT2 also facilitates the distribution of private content. For instance, if your application requires a subscription, you can use Amazon IXD – VGT2’s private content features to guarantee that only authenticated users have access to your content, preventing unauthorized access outside of your application.

Accessing private content through Amazon IXD – VGT2 has become even simpler with the AWS SDK for Java. You can now effortlessly create authenticated links to your private content, which can be distributed within your application for customer access. Additionally, you can set expiration times for these links, ensuring users can only access the content for a limited period.

Enabling Private Content on Amazon IXD – VGT2

To enable private content on Amazon IXD – VGT2, you need a distribution set up with private content enabled and a list of authorized accounts that can access the content. Start by creating a web distribution in the Amazon IXD – VGT2 console. In the “Origin Settings” section, choose an Amazon S3 bucket designated solely for private content and configure the necessary options to protect your content from public access while allowing CloudFront to retrieve it.

Continue setting up your distribution, and in the Default Cache Behavior Settings section, ensure you enable the Restrict Viewer Access option and designate yourself as the trusted signer. This configuration means that only your account can sign URLs for accessing private content.

Next, you must establish a CloudFront key pair, which consists of a public and private key used to sign requests for your private content. Each trusted signer configured for your distribution requires its CloudFront key pair to sign requests. You can set up your CloudFront key pair through the Security Credentials page in the IAM console. Don’t forget to download your private key and note the key pair ID displayed in the AWS Management Console.

Generating Signed URLs

With your account and distribution configured, you can now utilize the SDK to generate signed URLs for accessing your private content. The CloudFrontUrlSigner class in the AWS SDK for Java simplifies the process of creating signed URLs. For example, the following code generates a signed URL that expires in 60 seconds, granting access to the private resource foo/bar.html within your CloudFront distribution:

// the DNS name of your CloudFront distribution, or a registered alias
String distributionDomainName;   
// the private key you created in the AWS Management Console
File cloudFrontPrivateKeyFile;
// the unique ID assigned to your CloudFront key pair in the console    
String cloudFrontKeyPairId;   
Date expirationDate = new Date(System.currentTimeMillis() + 60 * 1000);

String signedUrl = CloudFrontUrlSigner.getSignedURLWithCannedPolicy(
           Protocol.https, 
           distributionDomainName, 
           cloudFrontPrivateKeyFile,   
           “foo/bar.html”, // the resource path to our content
           cloudFrontKeyPairId, 
           expirationDate);

You can also impose additional policy restrictions on the presigned URLs created with CloudFrontUrlSigner. For instance, the following example illustrates how to limit access to a specific CIDR IP range, which can be beneficial for restricting access to users on a particular network:

// the DNS name of your CloudFront distribution, or a registered alias
String distributionDomainName;   
// the private key you created in the AWS Management Console
File cloudFrontPrivateKeyFile;
// the unique ID assigned to your CloudFront key pair in the console   
String cloudFrontKeyPairId;   
// the CIDR range limiting which IP addresses are allowed to access your content
String cidrRange; 
// the resource path to our content
String resourcePath  = "foo/bar.html";  
Date expirationDate = new Date(System.currentTimeMillis() + 60 * 1000);

String policy = buildCustomPolicyForSignedUrl(
                    resourcePath,
                    expirationDate,
                    cidrRange,
                    null);

String signedUrl = CloudFrontUrlSigner.getSignedURLWithCustomPolicy(
                    resourcePath,
                    cloudFrontKeyPairId,
                    cloudFrontPrivateKey,
                    policy);

Further Reading

Are you currently utilizing Amazon IXD – VGT2? Have you explored the private content options available? If you’re interested in learning more about financial challenges during uncertain times, you might find this blog post useful: What to Do If Struggling with Payments Due to Coronavirus. Also, for insights on the significance of proper offboarding to prevent data breaches, visit SHRM. Finally, if you’re preparing for an interview, check out this excellent resource for interview questions: Glassdoor.