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Deploying DynamoDB

AWS NoSQL database with single-digit ms latency, auto-scaling, and global tables.

PlatformsIntermediate

Why

DynamoDB is fully managed NoSQL with single-digit ms latency at any scale, automatic scaling, and global tables for multi-region. Pay per request or provisioned capacity.

Platform-as-a-Service adoption grew 24% in 2024 as teams shift from VM management to git-push deploys. the cloud infrastructure market reached $330B in 2024, growing 22% year-over-year (Synergy Research), and PaaS layers capture the majority of new workloads.

When

Use DynamoDB for key-value and document workloads on AWS, especially serverless. Avoid for complex queries (no JOINs).

How

1. Create — aws dynamodb create-table with key schema 2. Index — GSI for alternate access patterns 3. Capacity — on-demand (pay per request) or provisioned 4. Auth — IAM roles for access, no passwords 5. Global — global tables for multi-region replication 6. Streams — DynamoDB Streams for change events 7. Query — aws dynamodb query or SDK

Example

# Create table aws dynamodb create-table --table-name users --attribute-definitions AttributeName=id,AttributeType=S --key-schema AttributeName=id,KeyType=HASH --billing-mode PAY_PER_REQUEST # SDK import { DynamoDBClient, PutItemCommand } from "@aws-sdk/client-dynamodb"; const client = new DynamoDBClient({}); await client.send(new PutItemCommand({ TableName: "users", Item: { id: { S: "123" }, name: { S: "Alice" } }, })); # Global table (multi-region) aws dynamodb create-global-table --global-table-name users --replication-group RegionName=us-east-1 RegionName=eu-west-1

Common Problems

  • ⚠Hot partition — uneven key distribution, use random suffix to distribute
  • ⚠Throttled — provisioned capacity too low, switch to on-demand
  • ⚠Configuration drift between environments — use infrastructure-as-code (Terraform/Pulumi) to keep dev/staging/prod identical

Best Practices

  • ✓Use on-demand for unpredictable workloads — no capacity planning needed
  • ✓Design for access patterns first — DynamoDB is NoSQL, schema follows queries
  • ✓Set up health checks and graceful shutdown — handle SIGTERM to drain in-flight requests before exit

FAQ