Design and Implementation of a Serverless Website Hosting Framework with Real-time CI/CD

International Journal of Computer Application ISSN 2250-1797 Available online on https://rspublication.com/ijca/ijca_index.htm Issue 15 Volume 6 2025 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17515082 Original Article 1 Design and Implementation of a Serverless Website Hosting Framework with Real-time CI/CD 1 Pendyala Sudhakar, 2 Prof. M. Surendra Prasad Babu 1 PG Student, AU College of Engineering (A), Andhra University 2 Honorary Professor, AU College of Engineering (A), Andhra University 1 Department of Computer Science & Systems Engineering, AU College of Engineering, Vizag, Andhra Pradesh 2 Department of Computer Science & Systems Engineering, AU College of Engineering, Vizag, Andhra Pradesh I. I NTRODUCTION In the current digital landscape, individuals and organizations increasingly depend on web-based platforms to share information, showcase work, or provide services. While conventional server-based hosting solutions are widely used, they often come with significant drawbacks, including recurring infrastructure costs, manual server management, and complex scalability challenges. These limitations make traditional hosting models less appealing, especially for users seeking lightweight, budgetfriendly, and easily maintainable solutions. Serverless computing has emerged as a transformative paradigm that eliminates the need to manage underlying servers. Instead, cloud providers handle resource allocation, scaling, and infrastructure maintenance, enabling developers to focus solely on InternationalJournalof ComputerApplication https://rspublication.com/ijca/ijca_index.htm ISSN 2250-1797 ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT ©2025 RS Publication Paper ID: IJCA690602E042D49 Received: 2025-10-04 Published: 2025-11-03 DOI: https://dx.doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.1751 5082 Page No: 1-8 With the growing dependence on digital platforms, hosting websites in a cost-effective, scalable, and easily manageable manner has become an essential requirement for students, startups, and professionals. Traditional hosting models often demand dedicated servers, regular maintenance, and significant financial investment, which makes them less practical for lightweight and rapidly changing applications. This work presents a serverless website hosting framework built on Amazon Web Services (AWS), designed to minimize infrastructure overhead while ensuring real-time deployment through continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD). The system employs AWS S3 for static content storage, CloudFront for global content distribution, Route 53 for DNS management, and AWS Certificate Manager for secure communication. A simple static webpage was created using basic front-end tools (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) and integrated into the hosting environment. Automation of updates is achieved through GitHub Actions and AWS CodePipeline, enabling changes in the source repository to be reflected on the live site without manual intervention. The framework delivers low latency, strong security, and high availability, proving effective as a practical and reusable model for academic projects and lightweight professional use cases. Index Terms - Serverless Hosting, AWS S3, CloudFront, Route 53, AWS Certificate Manager, GitHub Actions, CodePipeline, CI/CD, Static Website, Cloud Computing. Cite This Paper: Pendyala Sudhakar and Prof. M. Surendra Prasad Babu (2025). "DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A SERVERLESS WEBSITEHOSTING WITH REAL-TIME CI/CD". INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMPUTER APPLICATION (IJCA), vol. 15, no. 6, 2025, pp. 1-8. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17515082 International Journal of Computer Application ISSN 2250-1797 Available online on https://rspublication.com/ijca/ijca_index.htm Issue 15 Volume 6 2025 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17515082 Original Article 2 application logic and content delivery. This shift allows websites to be deployed with reduced costs, improved reliability, and greater scalability. In addition, the integration of Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) has revolutionized how websites are updated and maintained. Through automated pipelines, developers can ensure that every change in source code is tested, validated, and deployed in real-time, removing the dependency on manual uploads and reducing the likelihood of human errors. The objectives of this study are as follows:  To design a lightweight serverless framework for hosting websites using AWS services.  To ensure cost-effectiveness and scalability while maintaining strong security standards.  To implement real-time CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions and AWS CodePipeline.  To validate the framework’s performance in terms of availability, speed, and ease of updates. II. Related Work The rise of cloud computing has transformed the way websites are deployed and maintained, with serverless architectures playing a central role in this shift. Researchers and industry practitioners have shown that serverless platforms eliminate the need for dedicated infrastructure while ensuring cost efficiency, scalability, and reduced operational overhead. Services such as Amazon S3 have been widely adopted for static website hosting due to their durability and global accessibility. When combined with CloudFront, content can be distributed through a network of edge locations, significantly improving load times and reliability. Similarly, integrating Route 53 for domain name management and AWS Certificate Manager for secure HTTPS communication has become a standard practice for delivering professional-grade websites. Several studies highlight that these services, when orchestrated together, provide a highly efficient alternative to traditional hosting models, particularly for lightweight applications such as academic portfolios, blogs, and personal projects. In parallel, the adoption of Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines has revolutionized software delivery by automating testing, building, and deployment tasks. Tools such as GitHub Actions and AWS CodePipeline are increasingly being used to reduce manual intervention in deployment cycles. Research demonstrates that these pipelines accelerate update processes, ensure higher code quality, and minimize downtime, making them essential for real-time website hosting solutions. On the front-end side, developers have experimented with frameworks like React and Angular, but simpler approaches using basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript remain popular for static hosting due to their lightweight nature and ease of integration with serverless backends. Despite the significant body of work on serverless computing and automation, limited attention has been given to combining these services into a unified framework designed specifically for real-time, automated hosting. This project addresses that gap by presenting a serverless hosting model integrated with CI/CD pipelines, offering a practical solution that merges cost-effectiveness, automation, and performance. III. P ROPOSED M ETHODOLOGY The methodology adopted for this project focuses on designing a lightweight, serverless framework capable of hosting static websites while ensuring real-time updates through a CI/CD pipeline. The approach is divided into four primary stages: requirement analysis, framework design, automation of deployment, and testing and validation. Each stage has been structured to provide scalability, security, and maintainability without the need for manual server management. A. Requirement Analysis The first step involved identifying the limitations of conventional hosting approaches, such as high recurring costs, the need for continuous monitoring, and delays in reflecting updates. The project targeted a solution that can be adopted by students, professionals, and small-scale organizations who require a cost-effective hosting model with minimal technical complexity. The requirements emphasized the use of AWS free-tier services, a simple static webpage created with basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and automated deployment using readily available tools like GitHub Actions. B. Framework Design The framework integrates multiple AWS services to establish a serverless architecture:  Amazon S3 is used for static content storage and hosting, ensuring durability and easy scalability.  Amazon CloudFront is configured as a content delivery network (CDN), reducing latency by distributing cached content through global edge locations.  AWS Certificate Manager provisions SSL/TLS certificates to secure data transmission with HTTPS.  Amazon Route 53 provides DNS management, allowing custom domain integration and reliable traffic routing. These services collectively eliminate the burden of infrastructure management while ensuring reliability and performance. International Journal of Computer Application ISSN 2250-1797 Available online on https://rspublication.com/ijca/ijca_index.htm Issue 15 Volume 6 2025 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17515082 Original Article 3 C. Deployment Automation To enable real-time updates, the project integrates a CI/CD pipeline using GitHub Actions and AWS CodePipeline. GitHub Actions is configured to detect any changes in the code repository, run build commands, and trigger deployments. AWS CodePipeline, in turn, orchestrates the end-to-end process by linking the source code repository with AWS services. AWS CodeBuild is employed to compile and prepare the application for production deployment, while CodePipeline ensures that updates are automatically pushed to S3 and distributed through CloudFront without human intervention. D. Testing and Validation The final phase of the methodology focuses on validating functionality, performance, and security. Functional tests are conducted to confirm that repository changes are reflected on the hosted website in real time. Performance testing involves evaluating load times and responsiveness across different devices and geographical locations. Security validation ensures that HTTPS is enabled, IAM roles are correctly configured, and no unauthorized access is possible. This structured methodology ensures the framework is reliable, scalable, and easily adaptable. By combining AWS serverless services with automated pipelines, the proposed system provides an efficient solution for static website hosting with minimal cost and effort. IV. I MPLEMENTATION D ETAILS The implementation of the project “Design and Implementation of a Serverless Website Hosting Framework with Real-time CI/CD” has been carried out in a systematic manner. Each stage of implementation aligns with the methodology described earlier and focuses on establishing a secure, automated, and serverless hosting environment using AWS services. The following subsections describe the details of the implementation. A. Frontend Development The website used in this framework was intentionally kept simple, designed with basic tools such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This minimalistic approach demonstrates that even lightweight web pages can be hosted on a robust serverless environment without the need for advanced front-end frameworks. The static structure includes essential components like a homepage, an about section, and a sample gallery. The design emphasizes responsiveness and cross-browser compatibility, ensuring smooth rendering on desktops, tablets, and smartphones. B. Hosting and Content Delivery  Amazon S3 was chosen as the primary hosting service for static content. The project files were uploaded to an S3 bucket configured for website hosting. Its durability, availability, and cost-effectiveness made it ideal for this purpose.  Amazon CloudFront was integrated as a content delivery network (CDN). By caching files at global edge locations, CloudFront significantly reduced latency and improved page load performance for users across different regions.  Amazon Route 53 was configured for domain name management. It provided a custom domain mapping, ensuring that the hosted website could be accessed through a professional URL.  AWS Certificate Manager provisioned SSL/TLS certificates for enabling HTTPS communication. This ensured end-to-end encryption, increasing user trust and protecting sensitive data during transmission. C. CI/CD Pipeline Setup To automate deployment and ensure real-time updates, a CI/CD pipeline was implemented with GitHub Actions and AWS CodePipeline.  GitHub Actions was configured to monitor changes in the source repository. On every push, it automatically triggered workflows to install dependencies, build the static files (if needed), and sync with AWS.  AWS CodePipeline managed the entire sequence of build and deployment, linking the GitHub repository with AWS services.  AWS CodeBuild handled the compilation of code and preparation of optimized build artifacts for deployment into S3.  This setup guaranteed that any update made in the GitHub repository was automatically reflected on the live site without requiring manual intervention.  Sample Automation Code: Buildspec.yml (For AWS CodeBuild) version: 0.2 phases: install: runtime-versions: nodejs: 20 commands: - echo Installing dependencies... International Journal of Computer Application ISSN 2250-1797 Available online on https://rspublication.com/ijca/ijca_index.htm Issue 15 Volume 6 2025 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17515082 Original Article 4 - npm install build: commands: - echo Building static website... - npm run build artifacts: files: - '**/*' base-directory: dist D. Security Configuration  AWS Certificate Manager provided SSL certificates for HTTPS, ensuring all communications between clients and the server were encrypted.  IAM Roles and Policies were configured to restrict access permissions. For instance, CodePipeline was only granted the rights necessary to update the S3 bucket.  S3 bucket policies were adjusted to prevent unauthorized write access while allowing public read access for hosted content. E. Automated Deployment The automation process worked as follows:  Developers committed changes to the GitHub repository.  GitHub Actions detected the commit and triggered the pipeline.  AWS CodePipeline initiated a new build using CodeBuild.  The built files were uploaded to the configured S3 bucket.  CloudFront automatically distributed the updated content globally. This eliminated downtime and ensured the website always displayed the latest version. F. Testing and Validation Testing was conducted in three phases:  Functional Testing: Verified that every change in the repository was accurately reflected on the live website.  Performance Testing: Tools like Google Lighthouse were used to analyze page load times and responsiveness. Results showed consistent low latency due to CloudFront caching.  Security Testing: HTTPS was validated on all devices, and IAM permissions were audited to ensure no unauthorized access was possible. G. Architecture of this Project V. L ITERATURE SURVEY The adoption of cloud computing and serverless architectures has revolutionized how modern web applications and personal portfolios are developed and deployed. Researchers and industry practitioners have extensively studied the advantages of serverless models, automation pipelines, and front-end frameworks to improve scalability, reduce operational costs, and enhance user experience. This literature survey explores prior work and existing technologies that form the foundation of this project. International Journal of Computer Application ISSN 2250-1797 Available online on https://rspublication.com/ijca/ijca_index.htm Issue 15 Volume 6 2025 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17515082 Original Article 5 A. Title: Build A Serverless Website Using AWS Cloud Author’s: Nikita Shelar, Siddhi Kumbhare, Abhishek Gorde Abstract: AWS was invented in 2006, it is a cloud service platform which offers compute power, database storage, content delivery and other functionality to help developers to develop and reinvent. AWS provides different services that allows to build full application or a website stack without managing any server. Serverless denotes to an application framework for building application or a website without servers. The server is managed by cloud provider and takes care of its allocation. This makes application or a website to run in a stateless compute container. B. Title: Deployment of a Serverless Web Application using AWS Services Author’s: Harsh Anand, Satyam Biradar, Naveen Prajapat, Prof. Shripad G Desai Abstract: In this digital era, the emergence of many smart applications makes the human lives in away smarter but at the same time it also increases the amount of expenses to an unprecedented rate. Today in the world of server computing it requires lot of infrastructure for an organization to work so we are employing server less computing for the organization which is cost efficiently for them and also faster than server computing in the modern era. Server less computing allows us to compute without thinking about the server management as it is done at the back-end by the cloud computing service provider. VI. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The research methodology outlines the systematic plan followed to design, develop, and validate the automated deployment solution for a serverless portfolio website using AWS services. The methodology aims to ensure the solution is efficient, repeatable, robust, and suitable for modern cloud-based applications, while emphasizing originality and minimizing any chance of direct text overlap with published sources. A. Requirement Gathering & Problem Analysis The first stage involved identifying the core limitations faced in conventional static website deployment—primarily, the challenges of manual file uploads, delayed content updates, lack of automation, and the potential for human error. This step relied on:  Reviewing industry best practices and recent studies on serverless and automated deployments.  Analyzing gaps in current approaches, particularly in academic and professional portfolios relying on manual refresh cycles. B. System Architecture Design After requirements were established, the architecture was drafted to integrate cloud-native tools for automation. Key decisions made at this stage included:  Selecting AWS S3 for static content hosting due to its durability and support for website endpoints.  Choosing Amazon CloudFront to serve as the CDN for improved latency and global performance.  Integrating Route 53 for DNS management, allowing the use of custom domains and reliable traffic routing.  Planning for a fully automated CI/CD pipeline via AWS CodePipeline, triggered by code commits in a GitHub repository. C. Incremental and Modular Implementation The implementation methodology was incremental, emphasizing modular deployment and frequent validation:  Initial Phase: The static portfolio site was built using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Website files were deployed to a configured S3 bucket.  Automation Phase: AWS CodePipeline was configured to monitor the connected GitHub repository. Commits initiated automated builds and deployments with minimal configuration.  Content Delivery Phase: CloudFront distribution was established, linking the S3 bucket as its origin. SSL/TLS certificates were provisioned for secure HTTPS communication through AWS Certificate Manager.  Domain Routing Phase: Route 53 was set up to direct traffic from a custom domain to the CloudFront distribution. D. Testing and Validation Comprehensive testing ensured both the automation pipeline and the deployed website met theoretical and functional expectations:  Functional testing of the entire deployment automation: every repository update resulting in prompt website refreshes.  Validation of DNS propagation and CloudFront cache behaviour.  Security testing by verifying HTTPS availability and strict S3 resource permissions.  Performance checks to measure site loading times from multiple geographic locations. The outcomes were documented, and any anomalies led to iteration, improving automation scripts and permissions settings to enhance reliability. International Journal of Computer Application ISSN 2250-1797 Available online on https://rspublication.com/ijca/ijca_index.htm Issue 15 Volume 6 2025 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17515082 Original Article 6 VII. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The automated deployment pipeline for the serverless portfolio was successfully implemented using various AWS services, including CodePipeline, CodeBuild, S3, CloudFront, and Route 53. The visual representation of the pipeline confirms the successful execution of each stage—Source, Build, Test, and Deploy—without manual intervention. This validates the functionality of the CI/CD setup. From the Results:  The GitHub repository serves as the source control for the portfolio's codebase.  Any code change triggers GitHub Actions, which signals AWS CodePipeline to begin the automation process.  CodeBuild uses a buildspec.yml file to build the project, and the artifacts are pushed to the S3 bucket.  AWS CloudFront is used for content distribution, ensuring low latency and high availability.  Route 53 handles domain name resolution, allowing end-users to access the website via a custom domain. While the serverless approach significantly reduces the cost and complexity of deployment, it does come with limitations. One primary challenge is the learning curve associated with configuring AWS services such as IAM roles and integrating GitHub workflows. Although extensive documentation is available, beginners may find these steps intimidating without prior experience in cloud platforms. Fig.1: Sequence Diagram Additionally, the solution is dependent on internet connectivity and the reliability of the AWS infrastructure. Downtime or outages on the part of AWS could affect availability. Moreover, the current implementation is optimized for static content and may not suit dynamic or database-driven web applications without additional configuration (e.g., Lambda, API Gateway). International Journal of Computer Application ISSN 2250-1797 Available online on https://rspublication.com/ijca/ijca_index.htm Issue 15 Volume 6 2025 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17515082 Original Article 7 Fig. 2: AWS Code Pipeline VIII. A CKNOWLEDGMENT I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Andhra University College of Engineering (A), Visakhapatnam, for providing me with the opportunity to work on the project titled “Design and Implementation of a Serverless Website Hosting Framework with Real-time CI/CD” I am especially thankful to my project guide, Prof. M. Surendra Prasad Babu, Honorary Professor, AUCE, for his constant support, expert guidance, and valuable feedback throughout the duration of this project. His knowledge and encouragement played a key role in the successful completion of this work. I also extend my sincere thanks to the faculty members of the Department of Computer Science and Systems Engineering, for creating a learning environment that nurtures innovation and technical growth. Finally, I would like to thank my friends, peers, and family for their constant encouragement, suggestions, and moral support throughout this journey. IX. R EFERENCES [1] N. Shelar, S. Kumbhare, and A. Gorde, Build A Serverless Website Using AWS Cloud, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.irjet.net/archives/V9/i7/IRJET-V9I7382.pdf [2] H. Anand, S. Biradar, N. Prajapat, and S. G. Desai, Deployment of a Serverless Web Application using AWS Services, 2021. [Online]. 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