Efficient Storage Options

Answer - A and C.

The AWS Documentation mentions the following.

Amazon DynamoDB currently limits the size of each item that you store in a table (see Limits in DynamoDB)

If your application needs to store more data in an item than the DynamoDB size limit permits, you can try compressing one or more large attributes, or you can store them as an object in Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) and store the Amazon S3 object identifier in your DynamoDB item.

Option B is incorrect since this would add a maintenance overhead.

Option D is incorrect since there are no clear requirements to use Redshift for data storage.

For more information on using S3 with DynamoDB, please refer to the below URL.

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/developerguide/bp-use-s3-too.html

The most efficient way to store data items that vary in size from 1MB to 10 MB in DynamoDB is to split the data items and store the parts as multiple items in the table and to store the items in S3 and place a link as an attribute in DynamoDB.

Option A - Compress the data item if possible: While compression can reduce the size of the data item, it may not always be effective for larger items. Additionally, compressing and decompressing the data on the fly can add processing overhead, which can impact the performance of the application.

Option B - Split the data item and store the parts as multiple items in the table: DynamoDB has a limit of 400 KB for each item. Storing items larger than 400 KB requires splitting the data into multiple items and using a composite primary key to link the items together. While this method can work, it can lead to complexity in the application code and result in slower queries due to the need for multiple round trips to the database to retrieve the complete data.

Option C - Store the items in S3 and place a link as an attribute in DynamoDB: S3 is designed for storing large objects and can handle objects up to 5 TB in size. Storing large objects in S3 and placing a link to the object in DynamoDB can help to reduce the size of items in DynamoDB and can also reduce the number of read and write operations needed to retrieve or update the data. However, it does add complexity to the application code as the code must handle the retrieval and processing of data from S3.

Option D - Store the items in Redshift and place a link as an attribute in DynamoDB: Redshift is a data warehousing solution and is optimized for querying and analyzing large datasets. However, it is not designed for transactional workloads and may not be the best choice for storing large data items in the context of an application. Additionally, storing links to objects in Redshift can add complexity to the application code and result in slower queries due to the need for multiple round trips to the database to retrieve the complete data.

Therefore, the most efficient options for storing data items that vary in size from 1MB to 10 MB in DynamoDB are to split the data item and store the parts as multiple items in the table and to store the items in S3 and place a link as an attribute in DynamoDB. The choice between these two options will depend on the specific requirements and constraints of the application.