How to Query Live IBM Cloud Object Storage Data in Natural Language in Python using LlamaIndex

Use LlamaIndex to query live IBM Cloud Object Storage data data in natural language using Python.

Start querying live data from IBM Cloud Object Storage using the CData Python Connector for IBM Cloud Object Storage. Leverage the power of AI with LlamaIndex and retrieve insights using simple English, eliminating the need for complex SQL queries. Benefit from real-time data access that enhances your decision-making process, while easily integrating with your existing Python applications.

With built-in, optimized data processing, the CData Python Connector offers unmatched performance for interacting with live IBM Cloud Object Storage data in Python. When you issue complex SQL queries from Python, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to IBM Cloud Object Storage and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Whether you're analyzing trends, generating reports, or visualizing data, our Python connectors enable you to harness the full potential of your live data source with ease.

Overview

Here's how to query live data with CData's Python connector for IBM Cloud Object Storage data using LlamaIndex:

Import required Python, CData, and LlamaIndex modules for logging, database connectivity, and NLP.
Retrieve your OpenAI API key for authenticating API requests from your application.
Connect to live IBM Cloud Object Storage data using the CData Python Connector.
Initialize OpenAI and create instances of SQLDatabase and NLSQLTableQueryEngine for handling natural language queries.
Create the query engine and specific database instance.
Execute natural language queries (e.g., "Who are the top-earning employees?") to get structured responses from the database.
Analyze retrieved data to gain insights and inform data-driven decisions.

Import Required Modules

Import the necessary modules CData, database connections, and natural language querying.


import os
import logging
import sys

# Configure logging
logging.basicConfig(stream=sys.stdout, level=logging.INFO, force=True)
logging.getLogger().addHandler(logging.StreamHandler(stream=sys.stdout))

# Import required modules for CData and LlamaIndex
import cdata.ibmcloudobjectstorage as mod
from sqlalchemy import create_engine
from llama_index.core.query_engine import NLSQLTableQueryEngine
from llama_index.core import SQLDatabase
from llama_index.llms.openai import OpenAI

Set Your OpenAI API Key

To use OpenAI's language model, you need to set your API key as an environment variable. Make sure you have your OpenAI API key available in your system's environment variables.


# Retrieve the OpenAI API key from the environment variables
OPENAI_API_KEY = os.environ["OPENAI_API_KEY"]

''as an alternative, you can also add your API key directly within your code (though this method is not recommended for production environments due to security risks):''

# Directly set the API key (not recommended for production use)
OPENAI_API_KEY = "your-api-key-here"

Create a Database Connection

Next, establish a connection to IBM Cloud Object Storage using the CData connector using a connection string with the required connection properties.

Register a New Instance of Cloud Object Storage

If you do not already have Cloud Object Storage in your IBM Cloud account, follow the procedure below to install an instance of SQL Query in your account:

Log in to your IBM Cloud account.
Navigate to the page, choose a name for your instance and click Create. You will be redirected to the instance of Cloud Object Storage you just created.

Connecting using OAuth Authentication

There are certain connection properties you need to set before you can connect. You can obtain these as follows:

API Key

To connect with IBM Cloud Object Storage, you need an API Key. You can obtain this as follows:

Log in to your IBM Cloud account.
Navigate to the Platform API Keys page.
On the middle-right corner click "Create an IBM Cloud API Key" to create a new API Key.
In the pop-up window, specify the API Key name and click "Create". Note the API Key as you can never access it again from the dashboard.

Cloud Object Storage CRN

If you have multiple accounts, you will need to specify the CloudObjectStorageCRN explicitly. To find the appropriate value, you can:

Query the Services view. This will list your IBM Cloud Object Storage instances along with the CRN for each.
Locate the CRN directly in IBM Cloud. To do so, navigate to your IBM Cloud Dashboard. In the Resource List, Under Storage, select your Cloud Object Storage resource to get its CRN.

Connecting to Data

You can now set the following to connect to data:

InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.
ApiKey: Set this to your API key which was noted during setup.
CloudObjectStorageCRN (Optional): Set this to the cloud object storage CRN you want to work with. While the connector attempts to retrieve this automatically, specifying this explicitly is recommended if you have more than Cloud Object Storage account.

When you connect, the connector completes the OAuth process.

Extracts the access token and authenticates requests.
Saves OAuth values in OAuthSettingsLocation to be persisted across connections.

Connecting to IBM Cloud Object Storage


# Create a database engine using the CData Python Connector for IBM Cloud Object Storage
engine = create_engine("cdata_ibmcloudobjectstorage_2:///?User=ApiKey=myApiKey;CloudObjectStorageCRN=MyInstanceCRN;Region=myRegion;OAuthClientId=MyOAuthClientId;OAuthClientSecret=myOAuthClientSecret;")

Initialize the OpenAI Instance

Create an instance of the OpenAI language model. Here, you can specify parameters like temperature and the model version.


# Initialize the OpenAI language model instance
llm = OpenAI(temperature=0.0, model="gpt-3.5-turbo")

Set Up the Database and Query Engine

Now, set up the SQL database and the query engine. The NLSQLTableQueryEngine allows you to perform natural language queries against your SQL database.


# Create a SQL database instance
sql_db = SQLDatabase(engine)  # This includes all tables

# Initialize the query engine for natural language SQL queries
query_engine = NLSQLTableQueryEngine(sql_database=sql_db)

Execute a Query

Now, you can execute a natural language query against your live data source. In this example, we will query for the top two earning employees.


# Define your query string
query_str = "Who are the top earning employees?"

# Get the response from the query engine
response = query_engine.query(query_str)

# Print the response
print(response)

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData Python Connector for IBM Cloud Object Storage and start querying your live data seamlessly. Experience the power of natural language processing and unlock valuable insights from your data today.

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