Dynatroni (Patroni DynamoDB DCS)

Dynatroni is a DynamoDB-based Distributed Configuration Store (DCS) backend for Patroni PostgreSQL HA.

Features

• DynamoDB as arbiter: leader election via DynamoDB atomic operations
• No quorum requirement: a single surviving node can operate
• AWS-native: IAM auth, managed service
• Cost-effective: pay‑per‑request pricing for small clusters
• Highly available: DynamoDB's built‑in multi‑AZ replication

Docs

• Docs index
• Install & quickstart
• DynamoDB setup
• Configuration & environment
• Multi‑AZ & cold start
• Break‑glass promotion
• Operations & troubleshooting

Installation

python -m pip install --upgrade 'dynatroni>=0.1.1' 'patroni[psycopg3]'

Install into the same virtual environment that runs Patroni. Version 0.1.1 includes the discovery fix for issue #2. See Install & quickstart for the discovery check, source installation, and troubleshooting.

DynamoDB Table Setup

Create a DynamoDB table with:

• Partition Key: cluster_name (String)
• Sort Key: key (String)
• TTL attribute: ttl

aws dynamodb create-table \
  --table-name patroni-dynamodb \
  --attribute-definitions \
    AttributeName=cluster_name,AttributeType=S \
    AttributeName=key,AttributeType=S \
  --key-schema \
    AttributeName=cluster_name,KeyType=HASH \
    AttributeName=key,KeyType=RANGE \
  --billing-mode PAY_PER_REQUEST

aws dynamodb update-time-to-live \
  --table-name patroni-dynamodb \
  --time-to-live-specification "Enabled=true,AttributeName=ttl"

Patroni Configuration

In your patroni.yml:

scope: my-cluster
name: node1

dynamodb:
  region: us-east-1
  table_name: patroni-dynamodb
  # Single dial for cost vs responsiveness tradeoff:
  #   15s  = fast failover, ~24 DynamoDB ops/min
  #   60s  = balanced (default), ~6 ops/min
  #   180s = cost optimized, ~2 ops/min
  failover_time: 60
  # Optional: for local testing with DynamoDB Local
  # endpoint_url: http://localhost:8000

# Timing values are derived from failover_time:
#   ttl = failover_time
#   loop_wait = failover_time / 3
#   retry_timeout = failover_time / 3

# ... rest of patroni config

IAM Permissions

The EC2 instance role needs:

{
  "Effect": "Allow",
  "Action": [
    "dynamodb:GetItem",
    "dynamodb:PutItem",
    "dynamodb:UpdateItem",
    "dynamodb:DeleteItem",
    "dynamodb:Query",
    "dynamodb:BatchWriteItem"
  ],
  "Resource": "arn:aws:dynamodb:REGION:ACCOUNT:table/patroni-dynamodb"
}

How It Works

Dynatroni uses DynamoDB as a distributed lock service for PostgreSQL leader election.

Leader Election (Atomic Operations)

All leader operations use conditional writes to ensure exactly one leader:

The lock has a TTL (default 60s). If not renewed, it expires and another node can take over atomically.

Boundaries

• Single leader guarantee: Conditional writes prevent split-brain
• Leader lease: Bounded by TTL; leader must renew before expiry
• Failure detection: failover_time bounds how long a dead leader blocks promotion
• No fencing tokens: Relies on session IDs and TTL; applications should use PostgreSQL's own fencing

See docs/dynamodb.md for implementation details.

License

MIT