Review of DynamoDB, Redshift, S3 live lab

[chuck-confluent]

I'm reviewing the live lab instructions here:

• https://github.com/confluentinc/live-labs/blob/master/connectors-aws/dynamodb-redshift-s3/README.md

General feedback

• This feels really thorough and polished. Nice work!

Intro

• I really like this intro! It leads off with use cases that show why you would want data in different downstream systems

Architecture Diagram

• Great idea to start with an architecture diagram
• This diagram looks ok, but to take it to the next level, it should be remade in Figma with the updated icons. The icons used are from old branding. #16
• Should use svg rather than png. PNG files don't scale well for different screens. #17
• The text should be bigger. In figma, you can use a standard 1920x1080 frame with standard text styles from the web dev library so the font size will be more appropriate #18

Prerequisites

• I'd call this section before step 1 "Step 0: Create Accounts and Test Connectivity" #23
• The port quiz step is confusing. At first it sounds like I need my machine to allow access to 443 and 9092 to the public internet. But then I see the "outbound traffic". Maybe simplify to "Test that your network allows outbound requests from your machine to ports 443 and 9092 over the public internet." #24
• The steps should use consistent language. I'd suggest a lower level header (###) for each: #13
  • Sign up for Confluent Cloud
  • Sign up for AWS
  • Test Network Connectivity
• You should mention here that the AWS account needs root level permissions #12
  • Also, does it need root-level permissions? AWS recommends to only use the root user to create the first IAM user. Your wording makes it seem like you're asking folks to log in as the root user. Maybe say "admin access" (see doc)?

Create an API key pair

• I'd suggest some stronger language #14

Enable Schema Registry

• They will also need to create a separate schema registry API key, right? #15

hands-on Lab

Create a Datagen Source connector

• I would keep in mind to update this whenever ksqlDB gets Connect integration. You would then be able to create the connector with a ksqlDB query. #22

Create AWS Services

• "Create an IAM Policy and attach it to an IAM User." I am not following along the lab as I read, but this seems like not enough information. Which user? Which policy? I think you should explicitly instruct us to create an IAM user called "confluent-s3-demo-user" or something like that. I then see the policy json after the next step. The policy json should be under this step, not the "Create a key pair for the IAM User you just created" step. #19
• "For DynamoDB you can either reuse the IAM User from S3 or create a new one." Too many choices. Be more explicit. "Create another IAM user called confluent-dynamo-demo-user" or some such. #20
• "Create another IAM Policy and another IAM User." again, the policy json appears to be in the wrong place. Should probably name or tag all of these policies and users as well so they can be searched and deleted in the cleanup step. #21

[chuck-confluent]

@mkananizadeh ^^ :-)