How to design AWS Infrastructure for an Online Course Selling Website on a Budget

Overview of the Proposed Architecture:

Our online course website uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) and leverages several components, including VPCs, EC2 instances with RDS databases, an Application layer using PHP, along with storage solutions like AWS’s S3 for static files. To enhance content delivery speed and security without incurring extra costs beyond the Free Tier limits of each component:

• Virtual Private Cloud (VPC): Enables network isolation within AWS services but isn’t mandatory here as we aim to avoid additional setup complexity, especially when not using Elastic Beanstalk. Stay mindful about service usage against your free tier allowance with the caveat that PaaS like EB may lock you into a specific platform which could limit flexibility for future scaling needs or changes in technology stack if desired later on.

• EC2 Instances and RDS Database: The PHP web application operates here, storing both static assets (images & stylesheets) along with dynamic uploads by users/administrators—all managed within an S3 bucket for simplicity when directly serving content via URLs provided in the course material.

• Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3): As a storage solution, it hosts all static files and user uploaded media; its public accessibility is unrestricted without additional setup or CloudFront usage here since S3 serves as an excellent standalone content repository within your website’s architecture. You can link directly to objects by their unique URLs generated upon creation in the bucket for seamless file retrieval, aligning with AWS best practices while maintaining cost efficiency under Free Tier limits—keep these boundaries clearly defined and avoid unexpected expenses during course deployment or updates (note: S3 does not have a free tier available).

• Amazon CloudFront as Content Delivery Network (CDN): While this service excels at distributing content globally with lower latency, it’s currently extraneous for serving resources from the described architecture and would introduce additional costs out of Free Tier scope. AWS S3 alone is often sufficient when not needing global distribution or dynamic edge-processing functionality provided by CDN (read further: Amazon CloudFront vs Amazon Simple Storage Service).

• Route 53 DNS Hosting and Domain Management: This service, while not directly part of the application stack described above—represents domain name resolution using Amazon’s private hosted zone; its role is critical in establishing trusted connections between users (browsers) to your site’s IP resources without incurring extra cost beyond DNS setup.

Additional Considerations:

The AWS infrastructure must support high-quality video streaming for 2GB+ size courses—keep the architecture scalable, maintain optimal performance during peak loads with potential traffic surges (e.g., concurrent course signups), and manage resource utilization effectively within Free Tier constraints to avoid unexpected expenditures as your business grows beyond initial stages into more dynamic user engagement models:

• Video Streaming Strategy: With large video files, evaluate options for efficient delivery with Amazon’s KMS (Key Management Service) or using Elastic Transcoder alongside RTMP servers to handle onsite encoding processes prior to upload—this could impact costs and should be weighed against AWS Free Tier.

• User Authentication & Permissions: Securely manage account creation, access control with Amazon Cognito integrations for multi-factor authentication (MFA) or adaptive MFAs tailored around student lifecycle events; also consider granular permission management within your PHP application stack to balance security needs against development complexity.

Conclusion:

The proposed infrastructure setup aims at using the AWS Free Tier effectively while maintaining readiness for future expansion and potential technical requirements such as video streaming optimizations or user identity services (Cognito). As always, align your understanding with real-world applications to ensure reliability in deliverables—this can also include periodic review cycles where usage patterns dictate possible infrastructure shifts.