Creating an index for an Amazon Q Business application - Amazon Q Business
Amazon Q Business indexAmazon Kendra index

Creating an index for an Amazon Q Business application

Before you can add data in your Amazon Q Business application, you need to connect it to the following components:

  • An index – This is where the data you add is stored and organized.

  • A retriever – This is the tool that fetches data from an index during conversations.

Once these are created, you can then add data sources and configure features like metadata boosting or document enrichment.

You have two options for indices and retrievers to connect to your application:

  • Amazon Q Business native index and retriever – Amazon Q Business provides a native index you can add your data to. Choosing this index creates an Amazon Q Business index that can connect to the Amazon Q Business supported data sources that you choose.

  • Amazon Kendra index and retriever – If you're already an Amazon Kendra customer, you can connect your Amazon Kendra index with data sources attached to your Amazon Q Business application and use it as a retriever. You create an Amazon Kendra index using the Amazon Kendra console or API, and add it as a retriever when using the Amazon Q Business console or API.

    Note

    The option to create an Amazon Kendra index is visible on the console only if you're already an Amazon Kendra user.

    If you're connecting a Amazon Kendra GenAI Enterprise Edition index from an Amazon Q Business application, you can detach it and use it with other AWS Gen AI services, like Amazon Bedrock. Detaching an Amazon Kendra index automatically deletes the retriever Amazon Q Business created for it. For a list of features supported by Amazon Kendra GenAI Enterprise indices, see Amazon Kendra GenAI Enterprise Edition index.

    Note

    Amazon Q Business uses user email ID to determine end user access to documents in an index. When you connect an Amazon Kendra index to Amazon Q Business, Amazon Q Business relays the user’s identifying email ID to Amazon Kendra to enable document filtering for end users. If data sources connected to your Amazon Kendra index don’t use email-ID based document filtering, or the email ID is not present, Amazon Q Business generates responses only from public documents.

For instructions on how to select an index and retriever, choose a topic based on your index preference for Amazon Q.

Creating an Amazon Q Business index

To create a Amazon Q Business index and retriever, you can use either the AWS Management Console, or the CreateIndex and CreateRetriever API operations.

If you use the AWS Management Console, Amazon Q Business creates a retriever for you when you create the index. When you use the API, you need to create a retriever for your index separately.

The following tabs provide a procedure for the AWS Management Console and code examples for the AWS CLI.

Console

To create an Amazon Q Business retriever

  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon Q Business console.

  2. Complete the steps to create your Amazon Q Business application.

  3. In Applications, select the name of your application from the list of applications.

  4. From the left navigation menu, choose Data sources.

  5. From the Data sources page, choose Add index.

  6. From the Add index page, choose Create a new index and then do the following:

    1. In Name your index with a unique identifier, for Index name, input a name for your Amazon Q Business application.

      You can include hyphens (-), but not spaces. Maximum of 1000 alphanumeric characters.

      Important

      You can't change the name of the index after it's created.

      Note

      Available data sources when you select this option include all Amazon Q Business supported data connectors and direct document upload.

    2. In Index provisioning, do the following:

      1. Choose between Enterprise and Starter index types based on your use case. For more information on index types, see Index types.

      2. For Number of units – Choose the number of index units that you need. Amazon Q Business charges you based on the document capacity that you choose. If you choose an Enterprise index, You can choose up to 50 units. If you choose a Starter index, you can choose up to 5 units. Each unit is 20,000 documents or 200 MB, whichever is reached first. For more information on index provisioning pricing, see Amazon Q Business pricing.

  7. To create your index and retriever, choose Add index.

AWS CLI

To create an Amazon Q Business index


aws qbusiness create-index \
--application-id application-id \
--display-name display-name \
--description index-description \
--capacity-configuration units =<index-capacity-units> \
--type ENTERPRISE | STARTER

To create an Amazon Q Business retriever


aws qbusiness create-retriever \
--application-id application-id \
--display-name display-name \
--type NATIVE_INDEX \
--role-arn roleArn \
--configuration nativeIndexConfiguration="{indexId=<created-index-id>}" \    
--tags tags

Connecting an Amazon Kendra index as retriever

If you use Amazon Kendra, you can connect an existing Amazon Kendra index as a retriever to your Amazon Q Business application environment.

You create a Amazon Kendra index using the Amazon Kendra console and API. To connect a Amazon Kendra index to Amazon Q Business, you can use the Amazon Q Business console or the CreateRetriever API operation.

If you're connecting a Amazon Kendra GenAI Enterprise Edition index from an Amazon Q Business application, you can detach it and use it with other AWS Gen AI services, like Amazon Bedrock. Detaching an Amazon Kendra index automatically deletes the retriever Amazon Q Business created for it. For a list of features supported by Amazon Kendra GenAI Enterprise indices, see Amazon Kendra GenAI Enterprise Edition index.

Note

If you choose to use an Amazon Kendra index as retriever, data in your Amazon Kendra will be connected to your Amazon Q Business application environment. If you use an Amazon Kendra index, you can't use Amazon Q Business data connectors or direct document upload for your application environment.

Note

Amazon Q Business uses user email ID to determine end user access to documents in an index. When you connect an Amazon Kendra index to Amazon Q Business, Amazon Q Business relays the user’s identifying email ID to Amazon Kendra to enable document filtering for end users. If data sources connected to your Amazon Kendra index don’t use email-ID based document filtering, or the email ID is not present, Amazon Q Business generates responses only from public documents.

For more information about Amazon Kendra, see the following topics in the Amazon Kendra User Guide and API Reference:

The following tabs provide a procedure for the AWS Management Console and code samples for the AWS CLI.

Console

To connect an Amazon Kendra index

  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon Q Business console.

  2. Complete the steps to create your Amazon Q Business application.

  3. In Applications, select the name of your application from the list of applications.

  4. From the left navigation menu, choose Data sources.

  5. From the Data sources page, choose Add index.

  6. From the Add index page, choose Use an existing Amazon Kendra index and then do the following:

    1. In Select an index, select an existing Amazon Kendra index. All data sources synced to your Amazon Kendra index will be connected to your Amazon Q Business application environment.

    2. For Authorization – Create and use a new service role to connect Amazon Kendra to Amazon Q Business or use an existing one.

    3. For Service role name – Provide a name for your IAM access role. Or, choose to use the auto-generated role that's provided.

  7. Select Add index, to connect your Amazon Kendra index to your application.

AWS CLI

To connect an Amazon Kendra index


aws qbusiness create-retriever \
--display-name display-name \
--type KENDRA_INDEX \
--role-arn roleArn \
--configuration kendraIndexConfiguration="{indexId=<kendra-index-id>