Configuring Authentication

Connections to DynamoDB require authentication. You must configure the connector to provide your AWS credentials and authenticate the connection to the database.

You can authenticate your connection by using a credentials file or by using access keys (an access key and a secret key).

Using a Credentials File

You can provide AWS credentials by using a special credentials file that contains the access keys and secret keys of multiple users.

For information about the format of a credentials file, see the "AWS Credentials File Format" section in the AWS SDK for Java Developer Guide: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSSdkDocsJava/latest/DeveloperGuide/credentials.html#aws-credentials-file-format.

To configure authentication using a credentials file:

  1. To access authentication options, open the ODBC Data Source Administrator where you created the DSN, then select the DSN, and then click Configure.
  2. In the Authentication area, make sure that the Region field is set to the AWS region to which you want to connect.
  3. Select Credential File.
  4. In the File Path field, specify the full path and name of the AWS credentials file that you want to use. You can manually type the path in the field, or click Browse and then browse to select the file.
  5. In the Profile Name field, type the name of the profile to use from the AWS credentials file.
  6. If the DynamoDB server is configured to use SSL, then click SSL Options to configure SSL for the connection. For more information, see Configuring SSL Verification.
  7. To save your settings and close the dialog box, click OK.

Using Access Keys

You can provide an access key and a secret key to authenticate your connection. If you are using temporary credentials, then you must also provide a session token.

Note:

Temporary credentials are only valid for a limited amount of time. Contact your DynamoDB server administrator to get temporary credentials.

To configure authentication using access keys:

  1. To access authentication options, open the ODBC Data Source Administrator where you created the DSN, then select the DSN, and then click Configure.
  2. In the Authentication area, make sure that the Region field is set to the AWS region to which you want to connect.
  3. Select IAM Credentials.
  4. In the Access Key field, type your access key ID for connecting to the DynamoDB service.
  5. In the Secret Key field, type the secret access key corresponding to your access key ID.
  6. To encrypt your credentials, select one of the following:
    • If the credentials are used only by the current Windows user, select Current User Only.
    • Or, if the credentials are used by all users on the current Windows machine, select All Users Of This Machine.
  7. If you are using temporary credentials, select the Temporary Session Token check box and then copy and paste your session token into the field.
  8. If the DynamoDB server is configured to use SSL, then click SSL Options to configure SSL for the connection. For more information, see Configuring SSL Verification
  9. To save your settings and close the dialog box, click OK.

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