DynamoDB capacity modes (on-demand, provisioned) in AWS - Mini Project: Build & Apply

DynamoDB Capacity Modes Setup

📖 Scenario: You are setting up a DynamoDB table for a new application. You need to create the table with initial data and then configure its capacity mode to handle traffic efficiently.

🎯 Goal: Build a DynamoDB table configuration with initial attributes and set its capacity mode to either on-demand or provisioned.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a DynamoDB table named Users with a primary key UserId of type string.

Add a configuration variable capacity_mode to select between PAY_PER_REQUEST (on-demand) and PROVISIONED modes.

If capacity_mode is PROVISIONED, configure ReadCapacityUnits and WriteCapacityUnits with exact values.

Complete the table creation configuration including the capacity mode settings.

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

DynamoDB capacity modes help manage costs and performance for applications with varying traffic patterns.

💼 Career

Understanding how to configure DynamoDB tables with correct capacity modes is essential for cloud engineers and developers working with AWS.

1

Create DynamoDB table data structure

Create a dictionary called table_definition with the following keys and values exactly: TableName set to 'Users', KeySchema as a list with one dictionary having AttributeName as 'UserId' and KeyType as 'HASH', and AttributeDefinitions as a list with one dictionary having AttributeName as 'UserId' and AttributeType as 'S'.

AWS

# Create the DynamoDB table definition dictionary
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use a dictionary with keys TableName, KeySchema, and AttributeDefinitions exactly as described.

2

Add capacity mode configuration variable

Add a variable called capacity_mode and set it to the string 'PAY_PER_REQUEST' to represent on-demand capacity mode.

AWS

table_definition = {
    'TableName': 'Users',
    'KeySchema': [
        {'AttributeName': 'UserId', 'KeyType': 'HASH'}
    ],
    'AttributeDefinitions': [
        {'AttributeName': 'UserId', 'AttributeType': 'S'}
    ]
}
# Define the capacity_mode variable
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Set capacity_mode exactly to 'PAY_PER_REQUEST' to select on-demand mode.

3

Add provisioned capacity settings conditionally

Add a conditional block that checks if capacity_mode equals 'PROVISIONED'. Inside this block, add a key ProvisionedThroughput to table_definition with a dictionary value containing ReadCapacityUnits set to 5 and WriteCapacityUnits set to 5.

AWS

table_definition = {
    'TableName': 'Users',
    'KeySchema': [
        {'AttributeName': 'UserId', 'KeyType': 'HASH'}
    ],
    'AttributeDefinitions': [
        {'AttributeName': 'UserId', 'AttributeType': 'S'}
    ]
}
capacity_mode = 'PAY_PER_REQUEST'
# Add provisioned throughput settings if capacity_mode is 'PROVISIONED'
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use an if statement to add ProvisionedThroughput only when capacity_mode is 'PROVISIONED'.

4

Complete table creation configuration with capacity mode

Add a key BillingMode to table_definition and set its value to the current capacity_mode variable.

AWS

table_definition = {
    'TableName': 'Users',
    'KeySchema': [
        {'AttributeName': 'UserId', 'KeyType': 'HASH'}
    ],
    'AttributeDefinitions': [
        {'AttributeName': 'UserId', 'AttributeType': 'S'}
    ]
}
capacity_mode = 'PAY_PER_REQUEST'
if capacity_mode == 'PROVISIONED':
    table_definition['ProvisionedThroughput'] = {
        'ReadCapacityUnits': 5,
        'WriteCapacityUnits': 5
    }
# Set the BillingMode key in table_definition to capacity_mode
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Assign capacity_mode to the BillingMode key in table_definition.