diff --git a/services/tunnelbroker/src/database.rs b/services/tunnelbroker/src/database.rs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/tunnelbroker/src/database.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+use aws_config::SdkConfig;
+use aws_sdk_dynamodb::Client;
+use std::sync::Arc;
+
+#[derive(Clone)]
+pub struct DatabaseClient {
+  client: Arc<Client>,
+}
+
+impl DatabaseClient {
+  pub fn new(aws_config: &SdkConfig) -> Self {
+    let client = Client::new(aws_config);
+
+    DatabaseClient {
+      client: Arc::new(client),
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/services/tunnelbroker/src/main.rs b/services/tunnelbroker/src/main.rs
--- a/services/tunnelbroker/src/main.rs
+++ b/services/tunnelbroker/src/main.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 pub mod config;
 pub mod constants;
+pub mod database;
 pub mod grpc;
 pub mod websockets;
+
 use anyhow::{anyhow, Result};
 use config::CONFIG;
 use dashmap::DashMap;
@@ -25,7 +27,8 @@
     .expect("Unable to configure tracing");
 
   config::parse_cmdline_args()?;
-  let _aws_config = config::load_aws_config().await;
+  let aws_config = config::load_aws_config().await;
+  let _db_client = database::DatabaseClient::new(&aws_config);
 
   let grpc_server = grpc::run_server();
   let websocket_server = websockets::run_server();