Lab_1_Aura_Setup

Lab 1: Neo4j Aura Setup and Exploration

In this lab, you will set up your Neo4j Aura database, restore the knowledge graph from a backup, and explore your graph visually.

Prerequisites

• Completed Lab 0 (environment setup)
• For Workshop SSO Login: Access to OneBlink credentials page (provided by your organizer)
• For Free Trial Signup: A valid email address

Part 1: Neo4j Aura Signup

There are two signup options for this lab. Please follow the signup process provided by your workshop organizer.

Option A: Workshop SSO Login (Recommended for organized workshops)

If your organizer has provided OneBlink credentials, use the SSO login process:

• Follow the Neo4j Aura SSO Login guide to log in using your organization's SSO credentials
• This option uses pre-configured workshop accounts

Option B: Free Trial Signup (For self-paced learning)

If you're completing this lab independently or your organizer has instructed you to create a free trial:

• Follow the Neo4j Aura Free Trial Signup guide to create your own account
• This option provides a 14-day free trial with an automatically created instance

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Create Your Database Instance

Note: If you signed up using the Free Trial option (Option B), your instance was already created during the signup process. You can skip ahead to Part 2: Restore the Backup.

1. After logging in, click on Instances in the left sidebar under "Data services", then click the Create instance button.

   

   If you already have existing instances, click the Create instance button in the top-right corner of the Instances page.

   

2. Configure your new instance with the following settings:

   • Select the Aura Professional plan
   • Set the Instance name to a unique name based on your name (e.g., ryans-lab-instance). If you have an error try another unique name by adding your initials or a number.
   • Set the Sizing to 4 GB RAM / 1 CPU
   • Enable Vector-optimized configuration under Additional settings

   

3. Click Create to provision your database instance.

4. Save your connection credentials immediately. When your instance is created, a dialog will appear showing your database credentials (Username and Password). Click Download and continue to save the credentials file.

   

CRITICAL: The password is only shown once and will not be available after you close this dialog. Download the credentials file and store it somewhere safe. You will need these credentials in later labs to connect your applications to Neo4j.

Part 2: Restore the Backup

After your Aura instance is running, restore the pre-built knowledge graph:

Step 1: Download the Dump File

1. Download the dump file from GitHub:
   • Download link: manufacturing_demo.backup
2. Save the file to a location you can easily find (e.g., your Downloads folder)

Step 2: Restore to Aura

1. Go to your instance in the Aura Console

2. Click on your instance, select the Restore from backup file tab, and drag the manufacturing_demo.backup file you downloaded into the dialog:

   

3. Wait for the restore to complete - your instance will restart with the manufacturing knowledge graph

The backup contains:

• Product development data for the R2D2 automotive product
• Components across technology domains (Electric Powertrain, Chassis, Body, Infotainment)
• Engineering requirements with detailed descriptions
• Test sets, test cases, defects, and change proposals
• Text chunks with vector embeddings for semantic search

Part 3: Explore the Knowledge Graph

In this section, you will use Neo4j Explore to visually navigate and analyze your knowledge graph. You'll learn how to search for patterns, visualize relationships, and apply graph algorithms to gain insights from your data.

Step 1: Access the Aura Console

Go back to the Neo4j Aura console at console.neo4j.io.

Step 2: Open Explore

In the left sidebar, click on Explore under the Tools section. This opens Neo4j's visual graph exploration tool.

Click Connect to instance to connect to your database.

Step 3: Search for Product Traceability Relationships

In the search bar, build a pattern to explore the relationships between product, technology domain, component, requirements, and test sets. Type Product, then select the PRODUCT_HAS_DOMAIN relationship, followed by TechnologyDomain and DOMAIN_HAS_COMPONENT relationship, followed by Component and COMPONENT_HAS_REQ relationship, followed by Requirement, then TESTED_WITH, and finally TestSet.

This creates the pattern: Product - PRODUCT_HAS_DOMAIN → TechnologyDomain - DOMAIN_HAS_COMPONENT → Component — COMPONENT_HAS_REQ → Requirement — TESTED_WITH → TestSet

Step 4: Visualize the Knowledge Graph

After executing the search, you'll see a visual representation of the knowledge graph. The graph shows Product nodes connected to TechnologyDomain nodes through PRODUCT_HAS_DOMAIN relationships, and TechnologyDomain nodes connected to Component nodes through DOMAIN_HAS_COMPONENT relationships and so on. The visualization reveals the product structure — how a product is organized into technology domains containing specific components, requirements and test sets.

Tips for Exploring:

Zoom and Pan

• Zoom: Scroll wheel or pinch gesture
• Pan: Click and drag the canvas
• Center: Double-click on empty space

Inspect Nodes and Relationships

• Click on a node to see its properties
• Click on a relationship to see its type
• Expand nodes to see more connections

Next Steps

After completing this lab, continue to Lab 2 - Aura Agents to build an AI-powered agent using the Neo4j Aura Agent no-code platform.