Force CloudFront distribution/file update

Question

I'm using Amazon's CloudFront to serve static files of my web apps.

Is there no way to tell a cloudfront distribution that it needs to refresh it's file or point out a single file that should be refreshed?

Amazon recommend that you version your files like logo_1.gif, logo_2.gif and so on as a workaround for this problem but that seems like a pretty stupid solution. Is there absolutely no other way?

Answer 1

Just posting to inform anyone visiting this page (first result on 'Cloudfront File Refresh') that there is an easy-to-use+access online invalidator available at swook.net

This new invalidator is:

• Fully online (no installation)
• Available 24x7 (hosted by Google) and does not require any memberships.
• There is history support, and path checking to let you invalidate your files with ease. (Often with just a few clicks after invalidating for the first time!)
• It's also very secure, as you'll find out when reading its release post.

Full disclosure: I made this. Have fun!

Answer 2

one very easy way to do it is FOLDER versioning.

So if your static files are hundreds for example, simply put all of them into a folder called by year+versioning.

for example i use a folder called 2014_v1 where inside i have all my static files...

So inside my HTML i always put the reference to the folder. ( of course i have a PHP include where i have set the name of the folder. ) So by changing in 1 file it actually change in all my PHP files..

If i want a complete refresh, i simply rename the folder to 2014_v2 into my source and change inside the php include to 2014_v2

all HTML automatically change and ask the new path, cloudfront MISS cache and request it to the source.

Example: SOURCE.mydomain.com is my source, cloudfront.mydomain.com is CNAME to cloudfront distribution.

So the PHP called this file cloudfront.mydomain.com/2014_v1/javascript.js and when i want a full refresh, simply i rename folder into the source to "2014_v2" and i change the PHP include by setting the folder to "2014_v2".

Like this there is no delay for invalidation and NO COST !

This is my first post in stackoverflow, hope i did it well !

Answer 3

current AWS CLI support invalidation in preview mode. Run the following in your console once:

aws configure set preview.cloudfront true

I deploy my web project using npm. I have the following scripts in my package.json:

{
    "build.prod": "ng build --prod --aot",
    "aws.deploy": "aws s3 sync dist/ s3://www.mywebsite.com --delete --region us-east-1",
    "aws.invalidate": "aws cloudfront create-invalidation --distribution-id [MY_DISTRIBUTION_ID] --paths /",
    "deploy": "npm run build.prod && npm run aws.deploy && npm run aws.invalidate"
}

Having the scripts above in place you can deploy your site with:

npm run deploy

Answer 4

If you have boto installed (which is not just for python, but also installs a bunch of useful command line utilities), it offers a command line util specifically called cfadmin or 'cloud front admin' which offers the following functionality:

Usage: cfadmin [command]
cmd - Print help message, optionally about a specific function
help - Print help message, optionally about a specific function
invalidate - Create a cloudfront invalidation request
ls - List all distributions and streaming distributions

You invaliate things by running:

$sam# cfadmin invalidate <distribution> <path>

Answer 5

Set TTL=1 hour and replace

http://developer.amazonwebservices.com/connect/ann.jspa?annID=655

Answer 6

In ruby, using the fog gem

AWS_ACCESS_KEY = ENV['AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID']
AWS_SECRET_KEY = ENV['AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY']
AWS_DISTRIBUTION_ID = ENV['AWS_DISTRIBUTION_ID']

conn = Fog::CDN.new(
    :provider => 'AWS',
    :aws_access_key_id => AWS_ACCESS_KEY,
    :aws_secret_access_key => AWS_SECRET_KEY
)

images = ['/path/to/image1.jpg', '/path/to/another/image2.jpg']

conn.post_invalidation AWS_DISTRIBUTION_ID, images

even on invalidation, it still takes 5-10 minutes for the invalidation to process and refresh on all amazon edge servers