Why do we want to connect DynamoDB and Salesforce?
DynamoDB can store transactional key and value pair information from a system. By connecting with Salesforce, we can access that data for reporting and decision-making. We can look at what a user has going on in a very scalable way and target our marketing based on transactions or information stored in DynamoDB. For example, assume a fictitious company, PocketLanguage, stores all transaction data, people answering questions, reading a Spanish lesson, etc. They could then use the Connect link with DynamoDB to bring that information in and relate it to a contact. By doing so, they can say, “Person A, who pays $3.99/mo, has shown a lot of interest in Spanish”, and then they can make decisions on what marketing materials to send to them, such as “Hey, it seems you like romance languages, now that you’ve mastered Spanish, why not try French?” Now let's see how to make that connection.
To start the Connection setup, we need some information from our AWS Account. We will need the Region, the Endpoint, and the Access Key ID and Secret. Follow the steps below to get this information, and then we will move on to Salesforce.
Get AWS connection Information
Region
Check your region in your AWS Settings
Endpoint
For HTTP & HTTPS dynamodb.{region}.amazonaws.com
In the US HTTPS only dynamodb-fips.{region}.amazonaws.com
AccessKey
AWSAccessKeyId
AWSSecretKey
Go to your Security Credentials
Select Access Keys and Create a new Access Key
The key Secret is only available on Creation. Save it somewhere.
Now we have our necessary info, let us move on to Salesforce.
Salesforce Setup for DynamoDB Connection
Setup Named Credentials
Setup>Security>Named Credentials
Click New Named Credentials
Fill out the Name and Label. Make sure that the URL starts with http:// or https:// and put in your endpoint URL
Identity Type —> Named Principal
Authentication Protocol —> AWS Signature Version 4
Enter Access Key Id and Key Secret from the information you retrieved from AWS
AWS Region should be the region you retrieved from AWS
AWS Service is always lowercase “dynamodb” for DynamoDB
Make sure Generate Authorization Header is checked
Setup External Data Service
Setup>Integrations>External Data Service
Click New External Data Service
Enter External Data Source (this is a Label)
Enter Name (Used in API callouts)
Select Amazon DynamoDB as Type
Select the Named Credential you just created
Check Writable External Objects
Click Save
The Connection setup is mostly done at this point.
You can create tables in DynamoDB and External Objects in Salesforce
Once these are created we will need to go back to the External Data Source and Validate and Sync
Check the Table you want to Sync and click Sync
After it syncs, a check will appear in the grayed-out box labeled Synced
Your setup is now complete, and we got the information required from AWS DynamoDB, set up our Named Credentials and External Data in Salesforce, and then synced them. Making the connection is not a complex process, and now that data can be served up to your customers or employees. DynamoDB and its connection to Salesforce make for a great pairing for large extensible data storage and retrieval. Enjoy this feature and expand your data possibilities.
