Create cache policies - Amazon CloudFront

Create cache policies

You can use a cache policy to improve your cache hit ratio by controlling the values (URL query strings, HTTP headers, and cookies) that are included in the cache key. You can create a cache policy in the CloudFront console, with the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI), or with the CloudFront API.

After you create a cache policy, you attach it to one or more cache behaviors in a CloudFront distribution.

Console
To create a cache policy (console)

  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Policies page in the CloudFront console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/v4/home?#/policies.

  2. Choose Create cache policy.

  3. Choose the desired setting for this cache policy. For more information, see Understand cache policies.

  4. When finished, choose Create.

After you create a cache policy, you can attach it to a cache behavior.

To attach a cache policy to an existing distribution (console)

  1. Open the Distributions page in the CloudFront console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/v4/home#/distributions.

  2. Choose the distribution to update, then choose the Behaviors tab.

  3. Choose the cache behavior to update, then choose Edit.

    Or, to create a new cache behavior, choose Create behavior.

  4. In the Cache key and origin requests section, make sure that Cache policy and origin request policy is chosen.

  5. For Cache policy, choose the cache policy to attach to this cache behavior.

  6. At the bottom of the page, choose Save changes.

To attach a cache policy to a new distribution (console)

  1. Open the CloudFront console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/v4/home.

  2. Choose Create distribution.

  3. In the Cache key and origin requests section, make sure that Cache policy and origin request policy is chosen.

  4. For Cache policy, choose the cache policy to attach to this distribution's default cache behavior.

  5. Choose the desired settings for the origin, default cache behavior, and other distribution settings. For more information, see Distribution settings reference.

  6. When finished, choose Create distribution.

CLI

To create a cache policy with the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI), use the aws cloudfront create-cache-policy command. You can use an input file to provide the command's input parameters, rather than specifying each individual parameter as command line input.

To create a cache policy (CLI with input file)

  1. Use the following command to create a file named cache-policy.yaml that contains all of the input parameters for the create-cache-policy command.

    
aws cloudfront create-cache-policy --generate-cli-skeleton yaml-input > cache-policy.yaml

  2. Open the file named cache-policy.yaml that you just created. Edit the file to specify the cache policy settings that you want, then save the file. You can remove optional fields from the file, but don't remove the required fields.

    For more information about the cache policy settings, see Understand cache policies.

  3. Use the following command to create the cache policy using input parameters from the cache-policy.yaml file.

    
aws cloudfront create-cache-policy --cli-input-yaml file://cache-policy.yaml

    Make note of the Id value in the command's output. This is the cache policy ID, and you need it to attach the cache policy to a CloudFront distribution's cache behavior.

To attach a cache policy to an existing distribution (CLI with input file)

  1. Use the following command to save the distribution configuration for the CloudFront distribution that you want to update. Replace distribution_ID with the distribution's ID.

    
aws cloudfront get-distribution-config --id distribution_ID --output yaml > dist-config.yaml

  2. Open the file named dist-config.yaml that you just created. Edit the file, making the following changes to each cache behavior that you are updating to use a cache policy.

    • In the cache behavior, add a field named CachePolicyId. For the field's value, use the cache policy ID that you noted after creating the policy.

    • Remove the MinTTL, MaxTTL, DefaultTTL, and ForwardedValues fields from the cache behavior. These settings are specified in the cache policy, so you can't include these fields and a cache policy in the same cache behavior.

    • Rename the ETag field to IfMatch, but don't change the field's value.

    Save the file when finished.

  3. Use the following command to update the distribution to use the cache policy. Replace distribution_ID with the distribution's ID.

    
aws cloudfront update-distribution --id distribution_ID --cli-input-yaml file://dist-config.yaml
To attach a cache policy to a new distribution (CLI with input file)

  1. Use the following command to create a file named distribution.yaml that contains all of the input parameters for the create-distribution command.

    
aws cloudfront create-distribution --generate-cli-skeleton yaml-input > distribution.yaml

  2. Open the file named distribution.yaml that you just created. In the default cache behavior, in the CachePolicyId field, enter the cache policy ID that you noted after creating the policy. Continue editing the file to specify the distribution settings that you want, then save the file when finished.

    For more information about the distribution settings, see Distribution settings reference.

  3. Use the following command to create the distribution using input parameters from the distribution.yaml file.

    
aws cloudfront create-distribution --cli-input-yaml file://distribution.yaml
API

To create a cache policy with the CloudFront API, use CreateCachePolicy. For more information about the fields that you specify in this API call, see Understand cache policies and the API reference documentation for your AWS SDK or other API client.

After you create a cache policy, you can attach it to a cache behavior, using one of the following API calls:

For both of these API calls, provide the cache policy's ID in the CachePolicyId field, inside a cache behavior. For more information about the other fields that you specify in these API calls, see Distribution settings reference and the API reference documentation for your AWS SDK or other API client.