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Add DynamoDB to .NET on Elastic Beanstalk

This recipe shows how to integrate Amazon DynamoDB with an ASP.NET Core application by using the AWS SDK for .NET v3. It is a good fit when you need fully managed NoSQL storage without running a separate database engine.

Prerequisites

  • Running .NET Elastic Beanstalk environment.
  • A DynamoDB table already created or provisioned with infrastructure as code.
  • IAM permissions for the instance profile to access the table.
  • AWSSDK.DynamoDBv2 package available in the application.

What You'll Build

You will build:

  • Table name configuration from environment properties.
  • A DynamoDB client using the instance profile.
  • A simple read or write path for verification.
flowchart LR
    A[Elastic Beanstalk Instance Role] --> B[AmazonDynamoDBClient]
    B --> C[DynamoDB Table]
    D[Environment Property for Table Name] --> B

Steps

  1. Set the DynamoDB table name as an environment property.
eb setenv APP_TABLE_NAME="${APP_NAME}-items"
  1. Add the DynamoDB SDK package.
dotnet add package AWSSDK.DynamoDBv2
  1. Create the service client and table request model.
var client = new AmazonDynamoDBClient();
var response = await client.GetItemAsync(new GetItemRequest
{
    TableName = builder.Configuration["APP_TABLE_NAME"],
    Key = new Dictionary<string, AttributeValue>
    {
        ["Id"] = new AttributeValue { S = "demo" }
    }
});

  1. Attach least-privilege table permissions to the instance profile role.

  2. Deploy and validate read or write operations from the application.

eb deploy

Verification

Use these checks after deployment:

eb printenv
eb logs --all
aws dynamodb describe-table --table-name "${APP_NAME}-items" --region "$REGION"

Expected outcomes:

  • The application reads the table name from configuration.
  • The AWS SDK resolves credentials from the instance profile.
  • DynamoDB API calls succeed for the target table.
  • IAM permissions remain limited to required table actions.

See Also

Sources