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Waves Author here. Happy to answer any questions folks have about the book, about DynamoDB, or about self-publishing. NoSQL modeling is waaay different than re

by abd12 6y ago

Waves Author here. Happy to answer any questions folks have about the book, about DynamoDB, or about self-publishing. NoSQL modeling is waaay different than relational modeling. I think a lot of NoSQL advice out there is pretty bad, which results in people dismissing the technology altogether. I've been working with DynamoDB for a few years now, and there's no way I'll go back. The book has been available for about a month now, and I've been pretty happy with the reception. Strong support from Rick Houlihan (AWS DynamoDB wizard) and a lot of other folks at AWS. You can get a free preview by signing up at the landing page. If you buy and don't like it, there's a full money-back guarantee with no questions asked. Also, if you're having income problems due to COVID, hit me up and we'll make something work :) Anyhow, hit me up with questions! EDIT: Added a coupon code for folks hearing about the book here. Use the code "HACKERNEWS" to save $20 on Basic, $30 on Plus, or $50 on Premium. :)

eloff 6y ago
The biggest problem I'm aware of with DynamoDB is the hot key / partition issue[1]. Throughout is distributed evenly across nodes, you can't control how many nodes you have, so you always have a node that's hot either temporarily or permanently and so you end up having to over provision all your nodes to be able to handle that hot case, which ends up costing far more than alternatives. What's your take on this? This is the chief reason I avoid DynamoDB, which in theory would be a good fit for some of my problems. [1] https://syslog.ravelin.com/you-probably-shouldnt-use-dynamodb-89143c1287ca https://syslog.ravelin.com/you-probably-shouldnt-use-dynamod...
- luhn 6y ago
  As of a couple years ago, DynamoDB will redistribute throughput between shards based on usage [1], so in theory this should eliminate the hot shard problem. I haven't had a chance to test this in practice, if anybody has hands-on experience I'd love to hear it. You also finally have a way of identifying hot keys with the terribly named CloudWatch Contributor Insights for DynamoDB. [2] For exceptional use cases, you also have the option of On-Demand Capacity to pay for what you use and not worry about capacity at all. [3] [1] https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/developerguide/bp-partition-key-design.html#bp-partition-key-partitions-adaptive https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/developerg... [2] https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/developerguide/contributorinsights.html https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/developerg... [3] https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/developerguide/HowItWorks.ReadWriteCapacityMode.html#HowItWorks.OnDemand https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/developerg...
  - eloff 6y ago
    That sounds like the problem had been solved and my information is just out of date now. Maybe I should give DynamoDB another look now.
- Judson 6y ago
  With instant adaptive capacity, I think quite a few hot key issues are mitigated. https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/database/how-amazon-dynamodb-adaptive-capacity-accommodates-uneven-data-access-patterns-or-why-what-you-know-about-dynamodb-might-be-outdated/ https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/database/how-amazon-dynamodb-ad...
- abd12 6y ago
  luhn responded to this one pretty well :) Basically, most of these issues are gone. As long as you don't have extreme skew in your partition keys, you don't need to worry about throughput limits.
bwarren2 6y ago
Bought the book, thank you! What was your approach to self-publishing here? What tools did you use? If I wanted to publish a book but knew nothing about it, what resources should I read and what approach would you recommend?
- abd12 6y ago
  Thank you for your support! The biggest advice I can give you is not about any specific tool, it's about an approach. You need to think about how you will market the book if you're self-publishing. Engage with the community that will be interested in the book. Write articles, help out on Twitter, write code libraries, etc. For me, I wrote DynamoDBGuide.com two and a half years ago over Christmas break. I wanted to just make an easier introduction to DynamoDB after I watched Rick Houlihan's talk at re:Invent (which is awesome). That led to other opportunities and to me being seen as an 'expert' (even when I wasn't!). I got more questions and spent more time on DynamoDB to the point where I started to know more. I gave a few talks, etc. I finally decided to do a book and set up a landing page and mailing list. I basically followed the playbook that Adam Wathan described for his first book launch.[0] Write in public, release sample chapters, engage with people, etc. In terms of tooling, I used AsciiDoc to generate the book and Gumroad to sell. On a 1-10 scale, I'd give AsciiDoc a 5 and Gumroad an 8. But the tooling barely matters -- think about how to find the people that are interested :) Happy to answer any other questions, either in public or via email. [0] - https://adamwathan.me/the-book-launch-that-let-me-quit-my-job/ https://adamwathan.me/the-book-launch-that-let-me-quit-my-jo...
balfirevic 6y ago
Honest question: would you say "NoSQL modeling is way more restrictive, labor intensive and painful, but in turn gives you consistent performance as you scale" is a fair characterization?
bilalq 6y ago
Just bought the book. I've been working at AWS and using DynamoDB for years now, but I'm sure there are things I could be doing better. I love that you've dedicated attention to analytics and operations too.
- abd12 6y ago
  Thank you! I really appreciate it :) Hit me up if you have any questions!
dkobia 6y ago
Any chance for a Kindle friendly mobi?
- abd12 6y ago
  Yep! It comes with PDF, MOBI, and EPUB formats :)
Scarbutt 6y ago
and there's no way I'll go back. err.. back to what?
AlisdairO 6y ago
I'd been sort-of considering buying this for a while and the coupon made me pull the trigger. Thanks!

by abd12 6y ago

eloff 6y ago

The biggest problem I'm aware of with DynamoDB is the hot key / partition issue[1]. Throughout is distributed evenly across nodes, you can't control how many nodes you have, so you always have a node that's hot either temporarily or permanently and so you end up having to over provision all your nodes to be able to handle that hot case, which ends up costing far more than alternatives. What's your take on this? This is the chief reason I avoid DynamoDB, which in theory would be a good fit for some of my problems. [1] https://syslog.ravelin.com/you-probably-shouldnt-use-dynamodb-89143c1287ca https://syslog.ravelin.com/you-probably-shouldnt-use-dynamod...

luhn 6y ago
As of a couple years ago, DynamoDB will redistribute throughput between shards based on usage [1], so in theory this should eliminate the hot shard problem. I haven't had a chance to test this in practice, if anybody has hands-on experience I'd love to hear it. You also finally have a way of identifying hot keys with the terribly named CloudWatch Contributor Insights for DynamoDB. [2] For exceptional use cases, you also have the option of On-Demand Capacity to pay for what you use and not worry about capacity at all. [3] [1] https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/developerguide/bp-partition-key-design.html#bp-partition-key-partitions-adaptive https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/developerg... [2] https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/developerguide/contributorinsights.html https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/developerg... [3] https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/developerguide/HowItWorks.ReadWriteCapacityMode.html#HowItWorks.OnDemand https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/developerg...
- eloff 6y ago
  That sounds like the problem had been solved and my information is just out of date now. Maybe I should give DynamoDB another look now.
Judson 6y ago
With instant adaptive capacity, I think quite a few hot key issues are mitigated. https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/database/how-amazon-dynamodb-adaptive-capacity-accommodates-uneven-data-access-patterns-or-why-what-you-know-about-dynamodb-might-be-outdated/ https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/database/how-amazon-dynamodb-ad...
abd12 6y ago
luhn responded to this one pretty well :) Basically, most of these issues are gone. As long as you don't have extreme skew in your partition keys, you don't need to worry about throughput limits.

bwarren2 6y ago

Bought the book, thank you! What was your approach to self-publishing here? What tools did you use? If I wanted to publish a book but knew nothing about it, what resources should I read and what approach would you recommend?

abd12 6y ago
Thank you for your support! The biggest advice I can give you is not about any specific tool, it's about an approach. You need to think about how you will market the book if you're self-publishing. Engage with the community that will be interested in the book. Write articles, help out on Twitter, write code libraries, etc. For me, I wrote DynamoDBGuide.com two and a half years ago over Christmas break. I wanted to just make an easier introduction to DynamoDB after I watched Rick Houlihan's talk at re:Invent (which is awesome). That led to other opportunities and to me being seen as an 'expert' (even when I wasn't!). I got more questions and spent more time on DynamoDB to the point where I started to know more. I gave a few talks, etc. I finally decided to do a book and set up a landing page and mailing list. I basically followed the playbook that Adam Wathan described for his first book launch.[0] Write in public, release sample chapters, engage with people, etc. In terms of tooling, I used AsciiDoc to generate the book and Gumroad to sell. On a 1-10 scale, I'd give AsciiDoc a 5 and Gumroad an 8. But the tooling barely matters -- think about how to find the people that are interested :) Happy to answer any other questions, either in public or via email. [0] - https://adamwathan.me/the-book-launch-that-let-me-quit-my-job/ https://adamwathan.me/the-book-launch-that-let-me-quit-my-jo...

balfirevic 6y ago

Honest question: would you say "NoSQL modeling is way more restrictive, labor intensive and painful, but in turn gives you consistent performance as you scale" is a fair characterization?

bilalq 6y ago

Just bought the book. I've been working at AWS and using DynamoDB for years now, but I'm sure there are things I could be doing better. I love that you've dedicated attention to analytics and operations too.

abd12 6y ago
Thank you! I really appreciate it :) Hit me up if you have any questions!

dkobia 6y ago

Any chance for a Kindle friendly mobi?

abd12 6y ago
Yep! It comes with PDF, MOBI, and EPUB formats :)

Scarbutt 6y ago

and there's no way I'll go back. err.. back to what?

AlisdairO 6y ago

I'd been sort-of considering buying this for a while and the coupon made me pull the trigger. Thanks!