Using ElastiCache to Improve DynamoDB Performance

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Using ElastiCache to Improve DynamoDB Performance

In this lab, we are presented with a site that is struggling under load because the backing DynamoDB table has had its read and write provisioning drastically reduced to avoid incurring significant cost. To correct this, we will provision an ElastiCache cluster and modify the Lambda functions in the site architecture to implement a simple caching scheme that returns the site to a functional state.

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Lab Info

Level

Advanced

Last updated

Sep 20, 2025

Duration

45m

Challenge

Launch an ElastiCache Cluster
1. Navigate to ElastiCache.
2. Click Get Started Now.
3. Set the Cluster Engine to Memcached.
4. Provide a name for the cluster (e.g., tatourneycache).
5. Set the Cluster Node to t2.small.
Challenge

Modify the getTaStats Lambda Function
1. Navigate to Lambda.
2. Select the function with GetTaStats in the name.
3. Using the GitHub repo code, modify the function in editme.py to implement read-through data caching.
Challenge

Modify the taStreamProcessor Lambda Function
1. Navigate to Lambda.
2. Select the function with taStreamProcessor in the name.
3. Using GitHub repo code, modify the function in editme.py to implement cache invalidation when records in the TaTourneyStats table are updated.

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