To ensure optimal performance in DynamoDB, what should you monitor regularly?

Monitoring throughput usage in DynamoDB is essential for ensuring optimal performance because it helps you understand how much read and write capacity your tables are consuming relative to the provisioned capacity. Throughput usage directly affects the performance of your application; if you exceed the provisioned capacity, you may encounter throttling, leading to increased latency or unavailability of data.

In DynamoDB, throughput is measured in read and write capacity units. By regularly tracking this usage, you can make informed decisions about scaling your capacity either by adjusting the provisioned throughput settings or by implementing an auto-scaling policy. This proactive approach can help avoid performance bottlenecks during peak loads and ensure that your application remains responsive to user requests.

Monitoring factors such as network bandwidth, latency, or disk capacity, while valuable in certain contexts, does not directly relate to the primary performance metric of DynamoDB, which is throughput. Each of these factors contributes to application performance, but throughput usage is the most critical metric to focus on when working specifically with DynamoDB to ensure that you are not exceeding the limits that can impact your application's performance.