Bigtable to Vertex AI Vector Search template

The template for Bigtable to Vertex AI Vector Search files on Cloud Storage creates a batch pipeline that reads data from a Bigtable table and writes it to a Cloud Storage bucket in the JSON format. Use this template for vector embeddings.

Pipeline requirements

  • The Bigtable table must exist.
  • The output Cloud Storage bucket must exist before you run the pipeline.

Template parameters

Parameter Description
bigtableProjectId The ID for the Google Cloud project that contains the Bigtable instance that you want to read data from.
bigtableInstanceId The ID of the Bigtable instance that contains the table.
bigtableTableId The ID of the Bigtable table to read.
filenamePrefix The prefix of the JSON filename. For example: table1-. If no value is provided, defaults to part.
idColumn The fully qualified column name where the ID is stored. In the format cf:col or _key.
embeddingColumn The fully qualified column name where the embeddings are stored. In the format cf:col or _key.
outputDirectory Optional: The Cloud Storage path where the output JSON files are stored. For example: gs://your-bucket/your-path/.
crowdingTagColumn Optional: The fully qualified column name where the crowding tag is stored. In the format cf:col or _key.
embeddingByteSize Optional: The byte size of each entry in the embeddings array. For float, use the value 4. For double, use the value 8. Defaults to: 4.
allowRestrictsMappings Optional: The comma-separated, fully qualified column names for the columns to use as the allow restricts, with their aliases. In the format cf:col->alias.
denyRestrictsMappings Optional: The comma-separated, fully qualified column names for the columns to use as the deny restricts, with their aliases. In the format cf:col->alias.
intNumericRestrictsMappings Optional: The comma-separated, fully qualified column names of the columns to use as integer numeric_restricts, with their aliases. In the format cf:col->alias.
floatNumericRestrictsMappings Optional: The comma-separated, fully qualified column names of the columns to use as float (4 bytes) numeric_restricts, with their aliases. In the format cf:col->alias.
doubleNumericRestrictsMappings Optional: The comma-separated, fully qualified column names of the columns to use as double (8 bytes) numeric_restricts, with their aliases. In the format cf:col->alias.

Run the template

Console

  1. Go to the Dataflow Create job from template page.
  2. Go to Create job from template
  3. In the Job name field, enter a unique job name.
  4. Optional: For Regional endpoint, select a value from the drop-down menu. The default region is us-central1.

    For a list of regions where you can run a Dataflow job, see Dataflow locations.

  5. From the Dataflow template drop-down menu, select the Cloud Bigtable to Vector Embeddings template.
  6. In the provided parameter fields, enter your parameter values.
  7. Click Run job.

gcloud CLI

In your shell or terminal, run the template:

gcloud dataflow jobs run JOB_NAME \
    --gcs-location=gs://dataflow-templates-REGION_NAME/VERSION/Cloud_Bigtable_to_Vector_Embeddings \
    --project=PROJECT_ID \
    --region=REGION_NAME \
    --parameters \
       bigtableProjectId=BIGTABLE_PROJECT_ID,\
       bigtableInstanceId=BIGTABLE_INSTANCE_ID,\
       bigtableTableId=BIGTABLE_TABLE_ID,\
       filenamePrefix=FILENAME_PREFIX,\
       idColumn=ID_COLUMN,\
       embeddingColumn=EMBEDDING_COLUMN,\

Replace the following:

  • JOB_NAME: a unique job name of your choice
  • VERSION: the version of the template that you want to use

    You can use the following values:

  • REGION_NAME: the region where you want to deploy your Dataflow job—for example, us-central1
  • BIGTABLE_PROJECT_ID: the project ID
  • BIGTABLE_INSTANCE_ID: the instance ID
  • BIGTABLE_TABLE_ID: the table ID
  • FILENAME_PREFIX: the JSON file prefix
  • ID_COLUMN: the ID column
  • EMBEDDING_COLUMN: the embeddings column

API

To run the template using the REST API, send an HTTP POST request. For more information on the API and its authorization scopes, see projects.templates.launch.

POST https://dataflow.googleapis.com/v1b3/projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/LOCATION/templates:launch?gcsPath=gs://dataflow-templates-LOCATION/VERSION/Cloud_Bigtable_to_Vector_Embeddings
{
   "jobName": "JOB_NAME",
   "parameters": {
     "bigtableProjectId": "BIGTABLE_PROJECT_ID",
     "bigtableInstanceId": "BIGTABLE_INSTANCE_ID",
     "bigtableTableId": "BIGTABLE_TABLE_ID",
     "filenamePrefix": "FILENAME_PREFIX",
     "idColumn": "ID_COLUMN",
     "embeddingColumn": "EMBEDDING_COLUMN",
   },
   "environment": { "maxWorkers": "10" }
}

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: the Google Cloud project ID where you want to run the Dataflow job
  • JOB_NAME: a unique job name of your choice
  • VERSION: the version of the template that you want to use

    You can use the following values:

  • LOCATION: the region where you want to deploy your Dataflow job—for example, us-central1
  • BIGTABLE_PROJECT_ID: the project ID
  • BIGTABLE_INSTANCE_ID: the instance ID
  • BIGTABLE_TABLE_ID: the table ID
  • FILENAME_PREFIX: the JSON file prefix
  • ID_COLUMN: the ID column
  • EMBEDDING_COLUMN: the embeddings column

What's next