Setting Up Amazon SimpleDB for User Authentication

Here’s a tutorial on setting up Amazon SimpleDB for storing user authentication data.

You’ll need to sign up for an Amazon Web Services account: Create an Amazon Web Services Account.

You’ll get an email message that gives you the link to the page where you get your Amazon Web Services Access Key ID.

You’ll need to look for the button that signs you up for the Amazon SimpleDB Service on the Amazon SimpleDB Introduction page.

The SimpleDB sign-up page will give you pricing information. You get considerable use of the SimpleDB service for free (enough for development needs). But you’ll have to provide a credit card and billing address to sign up for the service. You’ll receive a confirmation email.

At this point you may want to install a desktop management tool for accessing Amazon SimpleDB. You might try SimpleDBExplorer or Bolso. See my blog entry User Interface Applications for Amazon SimpleDB about others. You’ll need your Amazon Web Services Access Key ID and secret key to access Amazon SimpleDB with these tools.

Next you’ll need to create a “domain” within SimpleDB. Domains within Amazon SimpleDB are similar to tables in relational databases. Or a domain can be thought of as a workbook in a spreadsheet that contains rows and columns that intersect to create cells. If you are using a front-end tool to manage Amazon SimpleDB you’ll have a button to “add” or “create” a domain. Try adding “mytestdomain”.

That’s all you need to do if you’re going to try out the Merb example app using DataMapper and SimpleDB that I describe in my blog entry Storing User Authentication Data in the Cloud.