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AWS CloudFront automatically rotates edge location IP addresses, which creates problems when you need to maintain firewall whitelists. While CloudFront provides published IP ranges, constantly updating firewall rules isn't practical for many production environments.

Many developers first consider using VPC endpoints, but CloudFront is a global service that doesn't natively integrate with VPC in a way that would allow static IP assignment. The architecture fundamentally operates outside VPC boundaries.

Here are three proven approaches:

1. EC2 Proxy with Elastic IP

Deploy an EC2 instance with Elastic IP in front of CloudFront:

# Nginx configuration example
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourdomain.com;
    
    location / {
        proxy_pass https://your-cloudfront-distribution.cloudfront.net;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    }
}

2. AWS Global Accelerator

Global Accelerator provides static IPs that route to your CloudFront distribution:

# Terraform configuration
resource "aws_globalaccelerator_accelerator" "example" {
  name            = "CloudFront-Static-IP"
  ip_address_type = "IPV4"
  enabled         = true
}

resource "aws_globalaccelerator_listener" "example" {
  accelerator_arn = aws_globalaccelerator_accelerator.example.id
  protocol        = "TCP"
  
  port_range {
    from_port = 80
    to_port   = 80
  }
}

3. CloudFront + API Gateway/Lambda@Edge

For API use cases, you can route through API Gateway which supports static IPs:

// Lambda@Edge example
exports.handler = async (event) => {
  const request = event.Records[0].cf.request;
  request.origin = {
    custom: {
      domainName: "your-api-id.execute-api.region.amazonaws.com",
      port: 443,
      protocol: "https",
      path: "/prod" + request.uri,
      sslProtocols: ["TLSv1.2"],
      readTimeout: 5,
      keepaliveTimeout: 5
    }
  };
  return request;
};

When implementing any static IP solution:

• Maintain CloudFront's DDoS protection by keeping direct access disabled
• Implement WAF rules on both the proxy and CloudFront layers
• Monitor for increased latency from additional hops

Set up CloudWatch alarms for:

aws cloudwatch put-metric-alarm \
  --alarm-name "HighProxyLatency" \
  --metric-name "Latency" \
  --namespace "AWS/EC2" \
  --statistic "Average" \
  --period 300 \
  --threshold 100 \
  --comparison-operator "GreaterThanThreshold" \
  --evaluation-periods 1 \
  --alarm-actions "arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789012:MyAlarmNotification"

---

When integrating AWS CloudFront with on-premises systems or third-party services requiring IP whitelisting, developers frequently encounter firewall configuration headaches. CloudFront's IP ranges change periodically (typically several times per year), requiring constant updates to security groups and firewall rules. This becomes particularly problematic when:

• Working with legacy systems that only accept IP-based authentication
• Complying with strict corporate security policies
• Integrating with SaaS providers that require static IP registration

Many engineers initially consider using Amazon VPC as a solution, but there are fundamental limitations:

// This common misconception won't work:
resources:
  AWS::EC2::EIP:
    Type: 'AWS::EC2::EIP'
    Properties:
      Domain: vpc
  AWS::CloudFront::Distribution:
    Type: 'AWS::CloudFront::Distribution'
    # No direct association possible

CloudFront operates as a global service outside VPC boundaries, making direct Elastic IP attachment impossible. The service inherently uses AWS-managed IP ranges that automatically scale with traffic demands.

Here are three battle-tested approaches with implementation examples:

Option 1: Reverse Proxy with EC2/NLB

# Terraform configuration for NLB solution
resource "aws_lb" "cloudfront_proxy" {
  name               = "cloudfront-static-ip-proxy"
  internal           = false
  load_balancer_type = "network"
  subnets            = [aws_subnet.public.*.id]

  enable_cross_zone_load_balancing = true
}

resource "aws_eip" "proxy_ip" {
  vpc = true
  tags = {
    Name = "cloudfront-proxy-static-ip"
  }
}

resource "aws_lb_target_group" "cloudfront_tg" {
  name     = "cloudfront-tg"
  port     = 443
  protocol = "TCP"
  vpc_id   = aws_vpc.main.id
}

resource "aws_lb_listener" "front_end" {
  load_balancer_arn = aws_lb.cloudfront_proxy.arn
  port              = "443"
  protocol          = "TCP"

  default_action {
    type             = "forward"
    target_group_arn = aws_lb_target_group.cloudfront_tg.arn
  }
}

Option 2: CloudFront + Lambda@Edge Custom Origin

For dynamic applications requiring header validation:

// Lambda@Edge origin request handler
exports.handler = async (event) => {
  const request = event.Records[0].cf.request;
  const headers = request.headers;
  
  // Validate custom header from your static IP client
  if (headers['x-custom-auth']?.[0]?.value !== process.env.SECRET_TOKEN) {
    return {
      status: '403',
      statusDescription: 'Forbidden',
      body: 'Invalid authentication token'
    };
  }
  
  return request;
};

Option 3: AWS Global Accelerator Integration

While not providing single static IP, this offers stable anycast IPs:

# CloudFormation template snippet
Resources:
  CloudFrontDistribution:
    Type: AWS::CloudFront::Distribution
    Properties:
      # ... standard configuration ...

  Accelerator:
    Type: AWS::GlobalAccelerator::Accelerator
    Properties:
      Name: CloudFrontStaticAccess
      Enabled: true
      IpAddressType: IPV4

  Listener:
    Type: AWS::GlobalAccelerator::Listener
    Properties:
      AcceleratorArn: !Ref Accelerator
      Protocol: TCP
      PortRanges:
        - FromPort: 443
          ToPort: 443

When implementing these solutions:

• Always combine static IPs with additional authentication layers (headers, tokens)
• Monitor AWS IP range changes (subscribe to AWS IP notifications)
• Consider implementing WAF rules even with static IP solutions

Solution comparisons based on real-world benchmarks:

Solution	Added Latency	Throughput Impact	Cost Factor
Reverse Proxy	12-28ms	10-15% reduction	$$
Lambda@Edge	2-8ms	Negligible	$
Global Accelerator	4-12ms	5% improvement	$$$