AWS Mastery for .NET Architects
Lesson 11 of 30 37% of course

DynamoDB Mastery: NoSQL for extreme scale

16 · 8 min · 5/23/2026

Sign in to track progress and bookmarks.

Serverless NoSQL

DynamoDB is a key-value and document database that delivers single-digit millisecond performance at any scale.

1. Partition Keys and Sort Keys

Unlike SQL, you don't 'Join' in DynamoDB. You design your data based on your Access Patterns. **Architect Tip:** Use the 'Single Table Design' pattern to store multiple entity types in one table for maximum efficiency and reduced costs.

2. Throughput Modes

Provisioned: You specify the Read/Write units you need (Best for predictable traffic).
On-Demand: You pay per request (Best for spiky traffic or new apps).

3. Architect Insight

Q: "When should I NOT use DynamoDB?"

Architect Answer: "Avoid DynamoDB if your application requires heavy **Ad-hoc Reporting** or many complex Joins. DynamoDB is for highly-predictable, high-scale application data (like User Profiles, Session State, or Order History). For everything else, stick to RDS."

Test your knowledge

Quizzes linked to this course—pass to earn certificates.

Browse all quizzes
AWS Mastery for .NET Architects

On this page

1. Partition Keys and Sort Keys 2. Throughput Modes 3. Architect Insight
1. AWS Global Infrastructure
AWS Foundations: Regions, Availability Zones, and Edge Locations VPC Deep Dive: Subnets, Route Tables, and Internet Gateways IAM (Identity and Access Management): The Principle of Least Privilege Security Groups vs Network ACLs: Handling traffic for .NET apps
2. Compute for .NET
EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud): Choosing the right instance for C# apps AWS Lambda: Serverless .NET with Native AOT ECS & Fargate: Containerizing .NET APIs at scale Auto Scaling Groups: Handling spikes in traffic
3. Storage & Databases
S3 (Simple Storage Service): Architecting a binary storage layer RDS (Relational Database Service): Managed SQL Server in the cloud DynamoDB Mastery: NoSQL for extreme scale ElastiCache: Boosting performance with Redis/Memcached
4. Networking & Content Delivery
Route 53: DNS management and health checks Application Load Balancer (ALB) vs Network Load Balancer (NLB) CloudFront: Accelerating frontend delivery via CDN API Gateway: Building a unified entry point for Microservices
5. Security & Compliance
AWS WAF: Protecting your APIs from common web attacks AWS Secrets Manager: Managing connection strings securely KMS (Key Management Service): Data encryption for .NET CloudTrail: Auditing your infrastructure changes
6. Messaging & Events
SQS (Simple Queue Service): Decoupling .NET services SNS (Simple Notification Service): Pub/Sub patterns in AWS EventBridge: Building an event-driven bus Step Functions: Orchestrating complex serverless workflows
7. Monitoring & DevOps
CloudWatch: Metrics, Logs, and Alarms for C# apps X-Ray: Distributed tracing for .NET Microservices AWS CodePipeline: CI/CD for .NET on AWS CloudFormation & CDK: Infrastructure as Code (IaC) with C#
8. Optimization & Scale
Cost Optimization (FinOps): Reducing your monthly AWS bill Case Study: Migrating a legacy Monolith to a Cloud-Native AWS stack