DynamoDB Scaling¶

Amazon DynamoDB is a fully managed NoSQL database service that provides fast and predictable performance with seamless scalability. It is designed to deliver single-digit millisecond performance at any scale, making it ideal for applications that require low-latency data access.

Types of Scaling¶

DynamoDB provides two types of scaling:

Throughput Scaling: Adjusts the read and write capacity of your tables to handle traffic spikes and reduce costs.
Size Scaling: Automatically manages the size of your tables to ensure optimal performance and cost efficiency.

Terminology¶

Partition: A physical storage unit that holds a portion of your table's data.
Partition Key: A unique identifier for each item in a table that is used to distribute data across partitions.
Sort Key: An optional attribute that is used to sort items with the same partition key.

Partition calculations¶

By capacity: The number of partitions is determined by the provisioned read and write capacity of your table.
By size: The size of a partition is determined by the amount of data stored in the table.
Total partitions: The total number of partitions in a table is the sum of the partitions for each partition key.

On-Demand Scaling¶

Automatically adjusts read and write capacity based on the workload.
Pay only for the resources you consume.
Ideal for unpredictable workloads or when you want to avoid managing capacity.

Provisioned Scaling¶

Allows you to specify the read and write capacity for your tables.
Provides predictable performance and cost.
Ideal for workloads with consistent traffic patterns.

DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX)¶

Amazon DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) is a fully managed, highly available, in-memory cache for DynamoDB that delivers up to a 10x performance improvement.