In DynamoDB, how are provisioned throughput requirements specified?

Provisioned throughput requirements in DynamoDB are specified in terms of capacity units, which directly relate to the performance that is expected from the database. Each capacity unit consists of a specific amount of read and write capacity. For a read operation, one capacity unit allows for one strongly consistent read per second of an item up to 4 KB in size, or two eventually consistent reads per second for the same item size. Similarly, one write capacity unit allows for the writing of an item up to 1 KB in size.

Choosing capacity units as a measure ensures that the application can handle the workload effectively. By specifying the number of read and write capacity units, developers can scale their applications according to the anticipated maximum workload without over-provisioning resources, which can lead to unnecessary costs.

Options that refer to read and write transactions, MB storage, or the number of tables do not accurately capture how throughput is provisioned in DynamoDB and do not reflect the scaling and performance management that capacity units provide.