How to Update a DynamoDB Table Using AWS CLI

Introduction

In this lesson, we will learn how to update a DynamoDB table using AWS CLI. DynamoDB is a NoSQL database service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS). It is a fully managed, highly scalable, and cost-effective database service that makes it easy to store and retrieve data from any application.

Updating a DynamoDB table is a common task for developers and administrators. In this lesson, we will learn how to update a DynamoDB table using the AWS Command Line Interface (CLI). We will also discuss the different options available for updating a DynamoDB table.

What is AWS CLI?

AWS CLI is a command line interface for interacting with AWS services. It is a unified tool that provides a consistent interface for managing AWS services. With AWS CLI, you can easily manage your AWS resources such as EC2 instances, S3 buckets, and DynamoDB tables.

Prerequisites

Before we get started, there are a few prerequisites that you need to have in place. First, you need to have an AWS account and have the AWS CLI installed on your machine. You can find instructions on how to install the AWS CLI here.

Updating a DynamoDB Table

Now that we have the prerequisites in place, let’s look at how to update a DynamoDB table using the AWS CLI.

Step 1: Create a Table

The first step is to create a DynamoDB table. You can do this using the aws dynamodb create-table command. This command takes a JSON file as an argument that contains the table schema. Here is an example of a table schema:

{
  "TableName": "MyTable",
  "AttributeDefinitions": [
    {
      "AttributeName": "id",
      "AttributeType": "S"
    }
  ],
  "KeySchema": [
    {
      "AttributeName": "id",
      "KeyType": "HASH"
    }
  ],
  "ProvisionedThroughput": {
    "ReadCapacityUnits": 5,
    "WriteCapacityUnits": 5
  }
}

Once you have the table schema, you can create the table using the following command:

aws dynamodb create-table --cli-input-json file://table-schema.json

Step 2: Update the Table

Once the table is created, you can update it using the aws dynamodb update-table command. This command takes a JSON file as an argument that contains the table schema. Here is an example of a table schema for updating a table:

{
  "TableName": "MyTable",
  "ProvisionedThroughput": {
    "ReadCapacityUnits": 10,
    "WriteCapacityUnits": 10
  }
}

Once you have the table schema, you can update the table using the following command:

aws dynamodb update-table --cli-input-json file://table-schema.json

Step 3: Delete the Table

Once you are done with the table, you can delete it using the aws dynamodb delete-table command. This command takes the table name as an argument. Here is an example of the command:

aws dynamodb delete-table --table-name MyTable

Conclusion

In this lesson, we learned how to update a DynamoDB table using the AWS CLI. We discussed the different options available for updating a DynamoDB table and how to use the aws dynamodb create-table, aws dynamodb update-table, and aws dynamodb delete-table commands. We also looked at an example of a table schema for updating a table.

By following the steps outlined in this lesson, you should now have a better understanding of how to update a DynamoDB table using the AWS CLI.

Lessons