Example configurations

Our client-side encryption library was renamed to the AWS Database Encryption SDK. This developer guide still provides information on the DynamoDB Encryption Client.

The following examples demonstrate how to configure standard and compound beacons. The following configurations do not provide beacon lengths. For help determining the appropriate beacon length for your configuration, see Choose a beacon length.

To see complete code examples that demonstrate how to configure and use beacons, see the Java and .NET searchable encryption examples in the aws-database-encryption-sdk-dynamodb repository on GitHub.

Standard beacons

If you want to query the inspector_id_last4 field for exact matches, create a standard beacon using the following configuration.

Java

List<StandardBeacon> standardBeaconList = new ArrayList<>();
StandardBeacon exampleStandardBeacon = StandardBeacon.builder()
    .name("inspector_id_last4")
    .length(beaconLengthInBits)
    .build();
standardBeaconList.add(exampleStandardBeacon);

C# / .NET

var standardBeaconList = new List<StandardBeacon>>);
StandardBeacon exampleStandardBeacon = new StandardBeacon
  {
    Name = "inspector_id_last4",
    Length = 10
  };
standardBeaconList.Add(exampleStandardBeacon);                         
                          

Compound beacons

If you want to query the UnitInspection database on inspector_id_last4 and inspector_id_last4.unit, create a compound beacon with the following configuration. This compound beacon only requires encrypted parts.

Java

// 1. Create standard beacons for the inspector_id_last4 and unit fields.
List<StandardBeacon> standardBeaconList = new ArrayList<>);
StandardBeacon inspectorBeacon = StandardBeacon.builder()
    .name("inspector_id_last4")
    .length(beaconLengthInBits)
    .build();
standardBeaconList.add(inspectorBeacon);

StandardBeacon unitBeacon = StandardBeacon.builder()
    .name("unit")
    .length(beaconLengthInBits)
    .build();
standardBeaconList.add(unitBeacon);        

// 2. Define the encrypted parts.
List<EncryptedPart> encryptedPartList = new ArrayList<>);

// Each encrypted part needs a name and prefix
// The name must be the name of the standard beacon
// The prefix must be unique
// For this example we use the prefix "I-" for "inspector_id_last4"
// and "U-" for "unit"
EncryptedPart encryptedPartInspector = EncryptedPart.builder()
    .name("inspector_id_last4")
    .prefix("I-")
    .build();
encryptedPartList.add(encryptedPartInspector);

EncryptedPart encryptedPartUnit = EncryptedPart.builder()
    .name("unit")
    .prefix("U-")
    .build();
encryptedPartList.add(encryptedPartUnit);   

// 3. Create the compound beacon.
// This compound beacon only requires a name, split character, 
// and list of encrypted parts
CompoundBeacon inspectorUnitBeacon = CompoundBeacon.builder()
    .name("inspectorUnitBeacon")
    .split(".")
    .sensitive(encryptedPartList)
    .build();

C# / .NET

// 1. Create standard beacons for the inspector_id_last4 and unit fields.
StandardBeacon inspectorBeacon = new StandardBeacon
 {
   Name = "inspector_id_last4",
   Length = 10
 };
standardBeaconList.Add(inspectorBeacon);
StandardBeacon unitBeacon = new StandardBeacon
 {
    Name = "unit",
    Length = 30
 };  
standardBeaconList.Add(unitBeacon);
                
// 2. Define the encrypted parts.
var last4EncryptedPart = new EncryptedPart

// Each encrypted part needs a name and prefix
// The name must be the name of the standard beacon
// The prefix must be unique
// For this example we use the prefix "I-" for "inspector_id_last4"
// and "U-" for "unit"
var last4EncryptedPart = new EncryptedPart
 {
   Name = "inspector_id_last4",
   Prefix = "I-"
 };
encryptedPartList.Add(last4EncryptedPart);

var unitEncryptedPart = new EncryptedPart
 {
   Name = "unit",
   Prefix = "U-"
 };
encryptedPartList.Add(unitEncryptedPart); 

// 3. Create the compound beacon.
// This compound beacon only requires a name, split character, 
// and list of encrypted parts
var compoundBeaconList = new List<CompoundBeacon>>);
var inspectorCompoundBeacon = new CompoundBeacon
  {
      Name = "inspector_id_last4",
      Split = ".",
      Encrypted = encryptedPartList
  };
compoundBeaconList.Add(inspectorCompoundBeacon);