Configure Amazon DynamoDB Triggers with AWS Lambda

Amazon DynamoDB is a fully managed NoSQL database service, built for highly scalable systems.

DynamoDB Streams enable event-driven programming with AWS Lambda to define triggers in order to augment your database behavior or implement 3rd-party integrations.

In this hands-on lab, you will learn how to process batches of DynamoDB updates with a Lambda Function. As a simple example, Python is used to create and sync generated fields. The same mechanism could be used to store operations logs, send SNS notifications, synchronize 3rd-party services, or any custom logic.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this lab, you will be able to:

• Enable Streams on DynamoDB services
• Create an AWS Lambda Function that triggers off of DynamoDB table changes

Prerequisites

Familiarity with the following will be beneficial, but is not required:

• Amazon DynamoDB
• AWS Lambda
• The Python scripting language

The following content can be used to fulfill the prerequisites:

• Introduction to DynamoDB
• Understanding AWS Lambda to Run and Scale Your Code
• Python for Beginners

Updates

July 18th, 2025 - Updated the instructions and screenshots to reflect the latest user interface changes

May 11th, 2022 - Updated the instructions and screenshots to reflect the latest UI

September 10th, 2021 - Updated lab steps to reflect the new AWS DynamoDB user interface changes

March 8th, 2021 - Updated AWS Lambda lab steps to reflect latest user interface changes

January 22nd, 2021 - Updated AWS Lambda lab steps to reflect latest user interface updates

July 15th, 2020 - Improved lab formatting for an improved learning experience. Updated content to reflect the latest AWS Console experience

July 18th, 2019 - Improved the validation Lab Step to further check the work you perform in the Lab

January 10th, 2019 - Added a validation Lab Step to check the work you perform in the Lab