Question: Can DynamoDB be used like a relational database?
Answered by Rafal Wilinski
Answer
DynamoDB is a NoSQL database, which means it is not a traditional relational database like MySQL or PostgreSQL. It does not support using SQL for querying data and does not have the same structure as a relational database with tables, rows, and columns. Instead, it uses a key-value model where each item is identified by a primary key and can have any number of attributes.
However, you can still model your data in a way that mimics the structure of a relational database. For example, you can use secondary indexes to create one-to-many relationships between items in different tables and use queries and scans to retrieve related items. But in general, DynamoDB is better suited to handle high write and read throughputs and high scalability rather than complex relational queries.
Additionally, you can also utilize the concept of Single Table Design to model relational data in DynamoDB. Find out more here.
Other Common DynamoDB FAQ (with Answers)
- How to access DynamoDB from outside?
- What are the key differences between DynamoDB and Elasticsearch?
- Is DynamoDB cost effective?
- How to store Japanese characters in DynamoDB?
- Why must table be empty to enable DynamoDB global tables?
- Do I need a middleware for DynamoDB?
- Should you make a new DynamoDB client for each request?
- How to dump multiple DynamoDB tables?
- What is the access pattern in DynamoDB?
- How to count rows in DynamoDB?
- How to access DynamoDB from Android Studio?
- How to write complex queries for a DynamoDB table?
- Which AWS regions support DynamoDB?
- Can DynamoDB have multiple tables?
- How to enable DynamoDB monitoring?