DynamoDBÂ , EC2 and IAM

DynamoDB , EC2 and IAM

DynamoDB is a hosted NoSQL database service that offers reliable performance even as it scales. It allows users the benefit of auto-scaling, in-memory caching, backup and restore options for all their internet-scale applications. Per our project, we will be creating a DynamoDB table with items, creating an EC2 instance and granting it read-access to the table, scanning the table through the AWS CLI, and validating that we can't write an item to the table through the CLI. Let's get started!

Project Requirements:

1. Create a DynamoDB table
2. Add 10+ items to the table
3. Create a t.2micro EC2 instance
4. Using an IAM role and the principle of least privilege, grant the EC2 instance read-access to DynamoDB
5. Use the AWS CLI in the EC2 instance to scan the DynamoDB table
6. Use the AWS CLI in the EC2 instance to validate you cannot write an item to the DynamoDB table

Prerequisites:

AWS Account

AWS CLI

For starters let's type DynamoDB into our search bar in the AWS Management Console and click on the service. Click on Create Table, and afterwards, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Fill in your information. A partition key is a simple primary key that holds a unique attr ibute, something that the other partitions within the table do not have. A sort key is a key that can gather related information together in one place where it can be queried efficiently. A composite key is a combination of a partition and sort key, and we will be using both in this project.

For this project, we will leave the settings how they are and create our table.

After your table is done creating itself, click on it and click on Explore Items > Create Item:

I clicked on Add New Attribute to add another String attribute for more efficient querying. I named the String attribute "Height". Afterwards click C reate Item

As you can see, the item was created. Per our project, we must create ten or more items. Click Create Item and continue

Now that our table has been created, let's head over and create our EC2 instance.

I decided first to create a separate VPC for this project. Check out my article here on how I did that. Next, I went ahead and created my instance:

Named the instance and chose the Amazon Linux Machine Image

Select our t2.micro type and create a key pair just for good measure

Choose the VPC and subnet that we created before. Our subnet will be in the Availability Zone us-east-1a

Create a security group and have SSH set up to allow all traffic just for this project

In the Advanced Details section, click on Create new IAM profile. This will take us to a tab where we will create a new role for our EC2 instance to have read-only access to our DynamoDB table

Click on Create Role

Keep the Trusted Entity Type as AWS Service, and select EC2 as your use case. Click next

Select the DynamoDB read-only access permission for your EC2 instance. Click next

Our role details look good, now let's click Create Role, at the bottom

After the role is created, let's go back to the previous tab and select the "Read-Only-DB" role that we created for our IAM profile. After that, launch the instance

Now that our instance is done initializing, click on Connect at the top of the page

For this project, we'll be using EC2 Instance Connect which allows us to use the AWS CLI inside the Management Console. Click Connect. This should open up the CLI in another browser tab

AWS CLI inside the AWS Management Console

We will now input the following command into our console to scan the table:

aws dynamodb scan --table-nam e sroscoe-DB --region us-east-1

The command was able to scan all 10 items

Now to test that we only have the read-only access permission for DynamoDB, let's input the following command:

aws dynamodb put-item --table-name sroscoe-DB --region us-east-1 --item '{"Universe": {"S": "DC"}, "Villain Name": {"S": "Slade"}}'

The AccessDeniedException output shows we only have read-only permissions

Had fun with this project, and this concludes month two of AWS. All feedback is welcome, and thank you for stopping by!

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DynamoDB , EC2 and IAM was originally published in Towards AWS on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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