DynamoDB Tables, Keys, and Indexes

Effective DynamoDB table design is radically different from relational modelling. Instead of normalising data into many tables and joining them at query time, you denormalise and design your tables around your application's access patterns. This lesson covers key design, secondary indexes, and single-table design — the techniques that unlock DynamoDB's full potential.

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Key Design Principles

1. Identify Your Access Patterns First

Before creating a table, list every query your application needs to perform. For example, an e-commerce application might need:

1. Get a product by ID
2. List all orders for a customer, sorted by date
3. Get all items in an order
4. Find orders by status (e.g., "shipped")
5. Get the top 10 best-selling products this month

2. Choose Keys That Distribute Evenly

The partition key determines how DynamoDB distributes data across physical partitions. A good partition key has high cardinality — many distinct values — so that no single partition becomes a hot spot.