DBMS_VECTOR

The DBMS_VECTOR package simplifies common operations with Oracle AI Vector Search, such as extracting chunks or embeddings from user data, generating text for a given prompt or an image, creating a vector index, or reporting on index accuracy.

This table lists the DBMS_VECTOR subprograms and briefly describes them.

Table 12-1 DBMS_VECTOR Package Subprograms

Subprogram Description

ONNX Model Related Procedures:

These procedures enable you to load an ONNX model into Oracle Database and drop the ONNX model.

LOAD_ONNX_MODEL

Loads an ONNX model into the database

LOAD_ONNX_MODEL_CLOUD

 Loads an ONNX model from object storage into the database

DROP_ONNX_MODEL Procedure

Drops the ONNX model

Chainable Utility (UTL) Functions:

These functions are a set of modular and flexible functions within vector utility PL/SQL packages. You can chain these together to automate end-to-end data transformation and similarity search operations.

UTL_TO_CHUNKS

Splits data into smaller pieces or chunks

UTL_TO_EMBEDDING and UTL_TO_EMBEDDINGS

Converts text or an image to one or more vector embeddings

UTL_TO_GENERATE_TEXT

Generates text for a prompt (input string) or an image

Credential Helper Procedures:

These procedures enable you to securely manage authentication credentials in the database. You require these credentials to enable access to third-party service providers for making REST calls.

CREATE_CREDENTIAL

Creates a credential name

DROP_CREDENTIAL

Drops an existing credential name

Data Access Functions:

These functions enable you to retrieve data, create index, and perform simple similarity search operations.

CREATE_INDEX

Creates a vector index

REBUILD_INDEX

Rebuilds a vector index

GET_INDEX_STATUS

Describes the status of a vector index creation

ENABLE_CHECKPOINT

Enables the Checkpoint feature for a vector index user and index name

DISABLE_CHECKPOINT

Disables the Checkpoint feature for a vector index user and index name

INDEX_VECTOR_MEMORY_ADVISOR

Determines the vector memory size that is needed for a vector index

QUERY

Performs a similarity search query

RERANK

Reorders search results for a more relevant output

Accuracy Reporting Function:

These functions enable you to determine the accuracy of existing search indexes and to capture accuracy values achieved by approximate searches performed by past workloads.

INDEX_ACCURACY_QUERY

Verifies the accuracy of a vector index

INDEX_ACCURACY_REPORT

Captures accuracy values achieved by approximate searches

Note:

DBMS_VECTOR is a lightweight package that does not support text processing or summarization operations. Therefore, the UTL_TO_TEXT and UTL_TO_SUMMARY chainable utility functions and all the chunker helper procedures are available only in the advanced DBMS_VECTOR_CHAIN package.

  • CREATE_CREDENTIAL
    Use the DBMS_VECTOR.CREATE_CREDENTIAL credential helper procedure to create a credential name for storing user authentication details in Oracle Database.
  • CREATE_INDEX
    Use the DBMS_VECTOR.CREATE_INDEX procedure to create a vector index.
  • DISABLE_CHECKPOINT
    Use the DISABLE_CHECKPOINT procedure to disable the Checkpoint feature for a given Hierarchical Navigable Small World (HNSW) index user and HNSW index name. This operation purges all older checkpoints for the HNSW index. It also disables the creation of future checkpoints as part of the HNSW graph refresh.
  • DROP_CREDENTIAL
    Use the DBMS_VECTOR.DROP_CREDENTIAL credential helper procedure to drop an existing credential name from the data dictionary.
  • DROP_ONNX_MODEL Procedure
    This procedure deletes the specified ONNX model.
  • ENABLE_CHECKPOINT
    Use the ENABLE_CHECKPOINT procedure to enable the Checkpoint feature for a given Hierarchical Navigable Small World (HNSW) index user and HNSW index name.
  • GET_INDEX_STATUS
    Use the GET_INDEX_STATUS procedure to query the status of a vector index creation.
  • INDEX_ACCURACY_QUERY
    Use the DBMS_VECTOR.INDEX_ACCURACY_QUERY function to verify the accuracy of a vector index for a given query vector, top-K, and target accuracy.
  • INDEX_ACCURACY_REPORT
    Use the DBMS_VECTOR.INDEX_ACCURACY_REPORT function to capture from your past workloads, accuracy values achieved by approximate searches using a particular vector index for a certain period of time.
  • INDEX_VECTOR_MEMORY_ADVISOR
    Use the INDEX_VECTOR_MEMORY_ADVISOR procedure to determine the vector memory size needed for a particular vector index. This helps you evaluate the number of indexes that can fit for each simulated vector memory size.
  • LOAD_ONNX_MODEL
    This procedure enables you to load an ONNX model into the Database.
  • LOAD_ONNX_MODEL_CLOUD
    This procedure enables you to load an ONNX model from object storage into the Database.
  • QUERY
    Use the DBMS_VECTOR.QUERY function to perform a similarity search operation which returns the top-k results as a JSON array.
  • REBUILD_INDEX
    Use the DBMS_VECTOR.REBUILD_INDEX function to rebuild a vector index.
  • RERANK
    Use the DBMS_VECTOR.RERANK function to reassess and reorder an initial set of results to retrieve more relevant search output.
  • UTL_TO_CHUNKS
    Use the DBMS_VECTOR.UTL_TO_CHUNKS chainable utility function to split a large plain text document into smaller chunks of text.
  • UTL_TO_EMBEDDING and UTL_TO_EMBEDDINGS
    Use the DBMS_VECTOR.UTL_TO_EMBEDDING and DBMS_VECTOR.UTL_TO_EMBEDDINGS chainable utility functions to generate one or more vector embeddings from textual documents and images.
  • UTL_TO_GENERATE_TEXT
    Use the DBMS_VECTOR.UTL_TO_GENERATE_TEXT chainable utility function to generate a text response for a given prompt or an image, by accessing third-party text generation models.

Parent topic: Vector Search PL/SQL Packages