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Preparing Sybase Database For Profiling and Masking

Note

Masking large tables can result in large transactions (depending on the masking job's commit size). It is important to manage each database's transaction log as appropriate to allow the masking jobs to run. Failure to manage the transaction log can result in the suspension of the transaction and hence the masking job appears to hang. Please review the ASE documentation Managing Free Space with Thresholds on how to manage the transaction log threshold. Sometimes it is necessary to resize the database to have a larger transaction log. When resizing a Delphix VDB, take care to ensure that the any new log devices are created in the VDB's underlying "datafile" directory provided by the Delphix Engine. For more information please review Resizing an SAP ASE VDB located on https://docs.delphix.com/docs.

Before masking your data, it is important to prepare the database. This section explains the required changes, reasons for the change, and instructions to make the change.

What is min/max memory in SQL Server?

Determining the Amount of Memory SAP ASE Needs

The total memory SAP ASE requires to start is the sum of all memory configuration parameters plus the size of the procedure cache plus the size of the buffer cache, where the size of the procedure cache and the size of the buffer cache are expressed in round numbers rather than in percentages. The procedure cache size and buffer cache size do not depend on the total memory you configure. You can configure the procedure cache size and buffer cache size independently. Use sp_cacheconfig to obtain information such as the total size of each cache, the number of pools for each cache, the size of each pool, and so on.

Use sp_configure to determine the total amount of memory SAP ASE is using at a given moment:

1> sp_configure "total logical memory"

Parameter Name Default Memory Used Config Value Run Value Unit Type
total logical memory 33792 127550 63775 63775 memory pages(2k) read-only

The value for the Memory Used column is represented in kilobytes, while the value for the Config Value column is represented in 2K pages.

The Config Value column indicates the total logical memory SAP ASE uses while it is running. The Run Value column shows the total logical memory being consumed by the current SAP ASE configuration. Your output differs when you run this command because no two SAP ASEs are configured exactly the same.

Determine the SAP ASE Memory Configuration

The total memory allocated during system start-up is the sum of memory required for all the configuration needs of SAP ASE. You can obtain this value from the read-only configuration parameter total logical memory . This value is calculated by SAP ASE. The configuration parameter max memory must be greater than or equal to total logical memory. Max memory indicates the amount of memory you will allow for SAP ASE needs.

During server start-up, by default, SAP ASE allocates memory based on the value of total logical memory. However, if the configuration parameter allocate max shared memory has been set, then the memory allocated will be based on the value of max memory. The configuration parameter allocate max shared memory enables a system administrator to allocate the maximum memory that is allowed to be used by SAP ASE, during server start-up.

The key points for memory configuration are:

  • The system administrator should determine the size of shared memory available to SAP ASE and set max memory to this value.

  • The configuration parameter allocate max shared memory can be turned on during start-up and runtime to allocate all the shared memory up to max memory with the least number of shared memory segments. A large number of shared memory segments have the disadvantage of some performance degradation on certain platforms. Check your operating system documentation to determine the optimal number of shared memory segments. Once a shared memory segment is allocated, it cannot be released until the server is restarted.

  • The difference between max memory and total logical memory determines the amount of memory available for the procedure and statement caches, data caches, or other configuration parameters.

  • The amount of memory SAP ASE allocates during start-up is determined by either total logical memory or max memory. If you set alloc max shared memory to 1, SAP ASE uses the value for max memory.

  • If either total logical memory or max memory is too high:

    • SAP ASE may not start if the physical resources on your machine are not sufficient.
    • If it does start, the operating system page fault rates may rise significantly and the operating system may need to be reconfigured to compensate.

Why is it important to make this change?

To assure that masking jobs will perform at an optimum level.

Primary/Foreign/DMS_ROW_ID keys to for masking Sybase:

What is a key?

A key is a unique, non-null value that identifies a row in the database.

Why is it important to make this change?

Using a PK or Foreign key is critical for fast updates. When a table does not have an identity column with an index or a PK/FK then the masking engine will alter the table to have an Identity column, DMS_ROW_ID to optimize performance.

How exactly do I make this change? (exact commands, etc).

A logical key can be added to a table in the Masking Engine Ruleset for each table, if there is a specific column that would find the row to update faster than the current PK/FK.

Note Sybase ASE will create unavoidable log entries when a table is altered and will increase the log size significantly. If needed, run the masking jobs using the On-The-Fly method to avoid log file increases.

Note

While performing a data copy, the database that contains the table must have select into/bulkcopy/pllsort turned on.

Creating a Masking User and Privileges:

It is highly recommended to create a database user, and possibly a role, to mask. This user should not be created in production but should be created in non-Production. The following permissions are needed:

Syntax to add user and give privileges:

sp_adduser mask_user;

CREATE user NEWUSER;

CREATE LOGIN mask_user WITH PASSWORD Delphix_123; --THIS MUST BE DONE IN MASTER

CREATE USER mask_user IDENTIFIED BY Delphix_123;

GRANT SELECT ON PII_V2 TO mask_user; GRANT INSERT ON PII_V2 TO mask_user; GRANT DELETE ON PII_V2 TO mask_user; GRANT ALTER ON PII_V2 TO mask_user; GRANT UPDATE ON PII_V2 TO mask_user;

GRANT ALTER ANY TABLE TO mask_user;

Adaptive Server requires a two-step process to add a user: sp_addlogin followed by sp_adduser.


CREATE LOGIN MASK_SUPER_USER WITH PASSWORD Delphix_123;

sp_addlogin MASK_SUPER_USER, Delphix_123;

GRANT ROLE sa_role TO MASK_SUPER_USER;