Adding a Custom Domain to AWS S3 or EC2 with CloudFront
A clean route map for certificates, DNS, and CloudFront behavior.
Adding a Custom Domain to AWS S3 or EC2 with CloudFront
Request flow
Deployment checklist
| Step | Why it matters |
|---|---|
Request ACM certificate in us-east-1 | CloudFront certificates must live there |
| Add your custom domain to the distribution | CloudFront needs an alternate domain name |
| Update DNS with CNAME or alias | Traffic must resolve to the distribution |
| Confirm cache and security headers | Avoid stale content and weak defaults |
Common failure mode
If the certificate looks correct but the browser still warns, check whether the domain was attached to the distribution itself, not just issued in ACM.
Tight verification
- Open the custom domain over HTTPS.
- Confirm the certificate matches your domain.
- Confirm the
serverand response headers match the CloudFront layer you expect.