Dynamodb: features, advantages and use cases

Dynamodb is a fully managed NOSQL database offering a server -free architecture, developed by Amazon. The service is distinguished by its transparent scalability, its response times in milliseconds and its minimum operating effort, as well as by a simplified AWS integration. User cases include software development, scalability of video game platforms and real -time video streaming.

What is Dynamodb?

Amazon Dynamodb is a server -free NOSQL database service for modern applications of any size, available since 2012 via AWS (Amazon Web Services). Unlike many competing products, Dynamodb is a fully managed solution. It is therefore not necessary to take care of tasks such as upgrades, updates or scalability. This database management system also offers a wide range of security features and compliance standards. In addition, Dynamodb fits perfectly with other AWS services like Lambda or the Amazon Opensearch service.

Dynamodb's structure

The database structure has a clear hierarchy with tables as main elementsbetween which there are no strict relationships, unlike relational databases. Amazon Dynamodb stores data in partitions that are automatically replicated. Each partition is made up of three nodes, each keeping a copy of the data, which allows easy scalability and ensures redundancy in the event of failure of a node. The developers save the records in the form of attributes and give them a single primary key. The database supports both key-value and documents oriented data models.

Table classes in AWS Dynamodb

Using the table classes, it is possible to optimize the performance and the cost structure of the Dynamodb tables. Users can choose between two classes and switch to each other twice in 30 days without interruption to adjust costs to the user patterns:

• Standard dynamodb is designed as standard table class for high performance workloads and tables with unpredictable workloads. In comparison, standard tables are distinguished by lower reading and writing costs.
• Standard dynamodb infrequent access has been optimized for tables where storage is the main cost factor. Standard AI tables are distinguished by lower storage costs. This class is also ideal for tables with data rarely consulted.

What features offer Dynamodb?

Dynamodb offers a variety of powerful functionalities allowing the development of evolutionary, highly available and reactive applications. The summary below presents the main characteristics:

• Data models by key and document : Dynamodb has a flexible scheme which allows the allocation of many different attributes to individual elements.
• ACD transactions : This NOSQL database offers transactions with atomicity, consistency, insulation and sustainability (ACID) for a wide variety of applications. This makes it possible to extend the scalability and the performance of Dynamodb to a wider range of critical business processes.
• Global tables with active-active replication : Dynamodb's global tables are multi-active, which allows users to write and read from each replica. The capacity is automatically adjusted to regional workloads.
• Dynamodb streams : This feature is used to capture change data. When an element is created, modified or deleted in a table, Dynamodb Streams records the data change and keeps it for 24 hours.
• Secondary index : Dynamodb supports local and global secondary indexes to allow requests via alternative keys. They can be implemented as a sparse indicator (sparse indexes), in order to index only targeted datum subsets.
• Automatic partitioning : the data is automatically distributed over several partitions and adjusted if necessary.
• Safety features : The database offers large functionalities to guarantee the security of your data. This includes differentiated access controls, resting at rest, punctual catering, demand backups and private network connectivity.
• Capacity models : Users have the possibility of choosing between a demand capacity mode and a provisioned capacity mode.
• Dynamodb Accelerator (Dax): this is an optional service for better ducklingwhich increases performance up to ten times.

Advantages and disadvantages of Amazon Dynamodb

Amazon's NOSQL service is mainly distinguished by the following strong points:

• Automatic scalability : AWS Dynamodb dynamically adjusts capacity and partitioning according to flow, which allows unlimited horizontal growth.
• Server -free architecture : This database management system is fully managed. This allows users to focus fully on the development of applications rather than taking care of the basic infrastructure.
• High availability : Multi-region databases and automatic replication guarantee availability of up to 99.999 %.
• Low latency : The NOSQL database provides reading and writing access by default with latencies of the order of Milliseconde. With the Dynamodb Accelerator, response times can be reduced to the need for microsecond.
• Simplified AWS integration : Transparent integration of AWS services such as Cloudwatch or Kinesis extends the features of Dynamodb and allows additional data analyzes.

Although the advantages clearly prevail and Dynamodb is definitely part of the best alternatives to SQL, the platform also has some weaknesses. On the one hand, it only offers Limited request optionsless extensive than those of many competing offers. The high dependence on AWS services makes it difficult to integrate with third -party solutions or migration to other cloud suppliers. In models on demand, there is also a risk that load peaks cause high and unpredictable costs.

What are the Dynamodb's areas of application?

Dynamodb was specifically designed for workloads requiring the processing, dimensioning and high availability of large amounts of data with very low latency. Among the typical use cases, we find in particular:

• Web applications and server -free mobile backendswhere account data, sessions and configurations are recovered with minimum latency.
• Game platformswhere hundreds of thousands or even millions of users simultaneously access game servers.
• Content streaming For a global audience with irregular or gusty data traffic.
• Banks and financial service companieswhich must deal with many transactions simultaneously and in real time, while taking up the challenge of guaranteeing the news and security of financial transactions.
• IoT applications (Internet of objects), which process and store large -scale sensor data.

The main alternatives to Dynamodb

Besides Dynamodbthere are other database management systems that can be considered alternatives depending on requirements, data model, scalability and infrastructure. These mainly include:

• Mongodb: great flexibility and unlimited scalability.
• MySQL: Relational system with exceptional availability.
• Mariadb: open source alternative to Dynamodb.
• PostgreSQL: Relational database solution with support for non -relational data types.
• Google Firebase: an excellent alternative, especially for mobile and web applications.
• Apache Cassandra: Ideal for large amounts of data.