Would you like to be able to write and test code that uses the even if you have no network connection and without incurring any usage charges ?

If so, you are going to love Amazon's new DynamoDB Local test tool.

DynamoDB Local is a client-side database that supports the complete DynamoDB API, but doesn't manipulate any tables or data in DynamoDB itself.

You can write code while sitting in a tree, on the beach, or in the desert.

Installing and Running DynamoDB Local

DynamoDB Local is available as an executable Java archive (JAR) file.

It will run on Windows, Mac, and Linux systems and is compatible with version 7 of the (JRE).

It will not work on older versions of Java.

, put it in the directory of your choice, and open a command prompt in that directory.

Launch DynamoDB Local like this:

$ java –Djava.library.path=. -jar DynamoDBLocal.jar

DynamoDB Local will create a local database in the same directory as the JAR.

The file name will have the form MyAccessKeyId_Region.db, where MyAccessKeyId is the AWS access key used to access DynamoDB Local

and Region is the target region.

Configure your application so that it uses the local endpoint.

DynamoDB Local listens on port 8000 by default; you can change this by specifying the --port option when you start it.

If you are using the default port, the local endpoint will be localhost:8000.