Hands-on emulator lab · 6–10 min
Let old practice records retire — DynamoDB TTL
Choose an expiry field and inspect the table’s automatic cleanup setting.
These actions use an isolated AWS Emulator. It stores API state locally; it does not create paid cloud resources or run the full hosted AWS service.
Your goal
Choose an expiry field and inspect the table’s automatic cleanup setting.
Why this matters
Temporary records need a way to signal when they are no longer useful. A Time to Live field records that deadline. You will configure the field and inspect its status; background deletion is not immediate.
Words you will use
TTL means time to live. An expiry timestamp says when a record becomes old. Unix time in seconds is a numeric count of seconds from a standard starting point.
How to proceed
Start a fresh emulator, read each numbered step, and enter the practice settings shown. Run the action, inspect its API receipt, then continue. Finish lab checks the emulator state again before saving your progress.
1. Create a practice table
Create a table for short-lived records. The table exists before its cleanup feature can be configured. Its name appears in the create response.
2. Enable the expiresAt field
Save expiresAt as the Time to Live attribute and add a practice record containing a future Unix timestamp in seconds. This configures cleanup; it does not make deletion immediate.
3. Inspect the cleanup setting
Read the TTL configuration and check the attribute name and status. Real applications should still reject expired records themselves because background cleanup can be delayed.
Practice, then check your understanding
Perform the actions yourself and inspect the returned state. Errors keep your settings so you can retry. Starting another lab clears the previous live environment. Earned XP is kept, and signed-in achievements sync to your account. Replay does not award duplicate XP.
Read the official AWS documentation for service behavior and production details.