AWS Cloud Project Bootcamp – Week 5: Unofficial Homework Guide

Table of Contents

Introduction

We’re finally finished with Week 4 of the Free AWS Cloud Project Bootcamp. Writing connections to PostgreSQL running on Amazon RDS was pretty tricky, and there was so much to do, there wasn’t a lot of time for any stretch homework. Personally, I was rushing to catch up Week 3 and Week 4 to be ready to start Week 5. I spent many late nights working to try and get everything finished in time, so I could be ready to follow along during the Week 5 livestream. I actually only finished getting everything working while listening to the livestream!

Week 5 will be mainly working with NoSQL Databases and Serverless Caching. More specifically, we will be working with Amazon DynamoDB, and Memento Serverless Cache. Based on the course outline, we will be launching a DynamoDB local, seeding data, writing AWS SDK code for DynamoDB, creating a production DynamoDB table, and adding a caching layer using Momento.

This article is intended to help direct you to all of the resources you should review as you go through the homework assignments. I will not be going through step-by-step how to complete the homework, as the methods will differ for each member, and it’s up to you to complete the assignments. I may post some tips or recommended steps if there are frequent questions or difficulties mentioned, and only if I have time during the week after completing my own homework.

Disclaimer: I am not part of the bootcamp planning or management team – I’m just a participant like you! Nothing I publish should be considered official. Be sure to refer to the official documents whenever possible, as things are frequently being added and changed.

Before You Start

Be sure you’ve completed all the required homework steps for Week 4. Each week builds off the previous one, so you need to have all the tasks finished to progress. If you’re not sure of what needs to be done, check the Student Portal > Submissions > Week 4 page and review the tasks. You can also check out my previous Week 4 – Unofficial Homework Guide article for more details.

Week 5 Viewing Material

More videos will be added as they become available:

YouTube – Official Playlist
YouTube – Week 5 – Live Streamed Video – NoSQL and Serverless Caching
YouTube – Week 5 – DynamoDB Utility Scripts
YouTube – Week 5 – Implement Conversations with DynamoDB
YouTube – Week 5 – DynamoDB Stream
YouTube – Week 5 – Spend/Billing Considerations (TBD)
YouTube – Week 5 – Security Considerations – How to use Amazon DynamoDB for security and speed

Required Homework Details

For this week, there are a number of tasks related to NoSQL Databases (DynamoDB), and Serverless Caching (Momento). Please refer to the Student Portal for the most up to date task list. I will update this article as needed, if additional tasks are added.

Learn about Data Modelling (Single Table Design) for NoSQL.
Implement Schema Load Script
Implement Seed Script
Implement Scan Script
Implement Pattern Scripts for Read and List Conversations
Implement Update Cognito ID Script for Postgres Database
Implement (Pattern A) Listing Messages in Message Group into Application
Implement (Pattern B) Listing Messages Group into Application
Implement (Pattern C) Creating a Message for an existing Message Group into Application
Implement (Pattern D) Creating a Message for a new Message Group into Application
Implement (Pattern E) Updating a Message Group using DynamoDB Streams

Stretch Homework Details

For this week, Andrew has said that he won’t be suggesting any stretch homework tasks, as he believes we will have a difficult enough time completing the required homework tasks. You’re free to create your own stretch tasks, which you can perform and document.

Additional Resources

Videos:

Documentation: