123. What do you need to know about DynamoDB?

In this episode, we provide a comprehensive overview of DynamoDB, including how it compares to relational databases, when to use it, how to get started, writing and querying data, secondary indexes, and single table design. We share our experiences using DynamoDB and discuss the pros and cons compared to traditional SQL databases.
💰 SPONSORS 💰
AWS Bites is brought to you by fourTheorem. If you need someone to work with you to build the best-designed, highly available database on AWS, give us a shout. Check us out on fourtheorem.com!
🔖 Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:55 What is DynamoDB and how does it compare with relational databases?
06:26 DynamoDB terminology and concepts
09:38 When and why to use DynamoDB
16:02 How DynamoDB partitions and nodes work
19:30 Getting started with DynamoDB SDKs
21:20 Writing data in DynamoDB
25:25 Querying data in DynamoDB
27:53 Secondary indexes in DynamoDB
30:18 Single table design pattern
33:46 Conclusion
In this episode, we mentioned the following resources:
- Our previous episode "122. Amazing Databases with Aurora": awsbites.com/122-amazing-data...
- Configurable Maximum Throughput on On-Demand tables: aws.amazon.com/about-aws/what...
- Best practices for designing and using partition keys effectively: docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondyn...
- The DynamoDB Book: dynamodbbook.com/
- Alex DeBrie’s podcast / KZbin (not about DynamoDB per se but still worth a shout!): / @softwarehuddle ‪@SoftwareHuddle‬
- One of Rick Houlihan’s talks on DynamoDB: • AWS re:Invent 2021 - D...
You can listen to AWS Bites wherever you get your podcasts:
- Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
- Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/3Lh7Pzq...
- Google: podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0...
- Breaker: www.breaker.audio/aws-bites
- RSS: ​​anchor.fm/s/6a3312a0/podcast/rss
Do you have any AWS questions you would like us to address?
Leave a comment here or connect with us on X, formerly Twitter:
- / eoins
- / loige
#aws #cloud #database #dynamodb #podcast

[@Loige]

In this episode, we mentioned that you could use a user email as a primary key in DynamoDB. This can work but from a compliance/security/privacy perspective it might a bit of a problem. So in these cases, if you don't have other unique identifiers for the user, you could use a hash of the user email instead (e.g. md5 or sha).

[@uzair004]

I don't know who needs to hear this but I have been using dynamodb as primary db in one project and it is total pain in the rear to design db (access patterns and data modeling) for application with a mobile application and dashboard. No matter how much effort you put in, there will be a point where your existing patterns won't be enough and there no easy way to support new ones.