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What's New for Masking

6.0.8.0 Release

New Name and Full Name Frameworks

Delphix introduces new Name and Full Name Frameworks, as well as their default algorithms instances. That functionality adds flexibility and more sophisticated way for names masking.

Masking SDK multiple plugins capacity

Masking SDK functionality is extended with an option of loading multiple plugins and chaining extensible algorithms based on different plugins. The default dlpx-core plugin is uploaded by default.

New Regex Decompose Algorithm Chaining Framework

Delphix introduces the Regex Decompose extensible algorithm framework which allows building new algorithms from a combination of predefined actions and existing algorithms.

Enclosure escape character support for delimited file masking

In this release, Delphix has added the escape character support for delimited file masking. Specifically the following were added:

Enclosure Escaping Strategy

The user can configure the enclosure escape character from the UI/API to escape the enclosure. To configure the enclosure escape character from the UI, user needs to select the "Enclosure Escaping Strategy" dropdown value as per the below options on the edit Rule Set popup window,

  1. Double Enclosure: Double enclosure option will set the escape character value same as enclosure value.

  2. Custom: By selecting custom option user can specify any single character as an enclosure escape character except the "escape sequences" and "control characters".

Escape "Enclosure Escape Character"

The user can escape the "enclosure escape character" itself by clicking on the Escape "Enclosure Escape Character" checkbox on the edit RuleSet popup window.

For more detailed information click here.

6.0.7.0 Release

New Date Masking Frameworks

Delphix introduces new date masking frameworks including date replacement, date shift, and multi-column dates. These new frameworks obviate the need for many of the custom date algorithms that were required in the past. Delphix also introduces new default implementations of common date-masking functionality. The new date masking frameworks are briefly described below.

  • Date Replacement: Selects a replacement value from a customer configurable date range.
  • Date Shift: Produces a replacement value by randomly shifting the input date by a customer configurable increment range.
  • Multi-column Date: Masks date values that have a dependency, such as admission and discharge date using the same algorithm as Date Shift. This allows masking of both the initial date and the difference between the dates.

New Credit Card Masking Algorithms

Delphix introduces a robust payment-card masking framework as well as a default algorithm implementation for credit card data. The legacy credit card algorithm, which produced random values, is being replaced by the new default instance which provides consistent masking results, a unique output for every valid input, always changes a valid input value, and preserves all non-digit portions of the input value.

Masking Engine changes for Users and Groups

This enhancement adds stronger on-Masking Engine safeguards to the users and group's experience delivered in Central Management in which the access to a Masking Engine’s objects is determined by assigning authorization via global access groups. Specifically, when an engine opts into the global model, it relinquishes local control of object access. With this enhancement, the local enforcement of global (Central Management) settings is strengthened by deactivating local object access in the UI, thus ensuring the local values will not be overridden via frequent, periodic scans from Central Management.

New Forgot and Reset password APIs

In this release, Delphix has extended the list of API-endpoints by adding two new API's related to the existing Forgot and Reset password feature for a user, which was available via GUI only till now.

The two new sets of API endpoints are :

Group Endpoints Description
user POST /users/forgot-password Send reset password mail to the user
POST /users/reset-password Reset new password for the user

The forgot-password API will generate and send a password reset link to the registered email id of the user, for which the password has to be reset.

The reset-password API will use the token sent via the password reset link, to set the new password.

Control character support for delimited file masking

In this release, Delphix has added the control character support for delimited file masking. Specifically the following were added:

  1. Control character as a delimiter: The user can specify a control character as the delimiter from UI/API.
  2. Control character as an end of record: The user can specify a control character as the end of record from UI/API.
  3. Control character as a value: Delimited files containing values with control characters are now supported.

Date-Time format change for the API response

In this release, the date-time format for API responses is changed

From: yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ e.g. 2021-03-17T17:35:39.352+0000

To: yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSXXX e.g. 2021-03-17T17: 35:39.352+00:00.

The API endpoints below will be affected by this change:

  • GET /system-information
  • GET /plugin
  • GET /profile-jobs
  • GET /profile-sets
  • GET /execution-events
  • GET /async-tasks
  • GET /audit-logs
  • GET /algorithms in algorithm extension object
  • GET /execution-components
  • GET /jdbc-drivers
  • GET /masking-jobs
  • GET /reidentification-jobs
  • GET /tokenization-jobs

6.0.6.0 Release

Multi-Column Algorithm

In this release, Delphix has introduced a Multi-Column Extensible Algorithm mechanism, which allows masking multiple columns of the same table conditional to their values (or using any other logic needed by the customer). To use the Multi-Column Algorithm Framework, users first create an algorithm via the Masking SDK and then install their algorithm on a Masking Engine via the Extensible Algorithm Plugin interface.

Latest Api Version

The latest masking API version supported on the engine will be included in the GET /system-information API response.

Custom Database Connection Properties

There is now a way to specify custom connection properties for all of our database connector types by uploading a properties file. See Database Connection Properties for more info.

Certifications

  • DB2 iSeries v7.4

6.0.5.0 Release

Character Mapping Algorithm

Delphix is introducing a replacement for the Segment Mapping Algorithm, the Character Mapping Algorithm. The new Character Mapping Algorithm is built using the recently released algorithm SDK, and in most common configurations this new algorithm will be faster and require less memory than the existing segment mapping algorithm. In addition, this new version does not have a length limitation for the input string and can handle non-ASCII characters.

Certifications

  • MySQL 8
  • Postgres SQL 12
  • DB2 LUW 11.5
  • Oracle Database Cloud Services on Virtual Machines
  • Oracle Database Cloud Services on Bare Metal
  • Google Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL
  • Google Cloud SQL for MySQL
  • Google Cloud SQL for SQL Server

Default Api Version

Ability to specify the Masking API version to be used when the version is omitted from the base path of the Masking API request's URL.

New API Version

To reflect the API improvements mentioned above, the API version increased to 5.1.5 in this release. For a complete listing of version 5.1.5, see the Masking API Client page.

6.0.4.0 Release

Masking Job Memory Improvements

Memory management has been dramatically improved. Not only can jobs run with less memory, but the Masking Engine will also now ensure that jobs can only run if enough memory is available and that the engine cannot run out of memory.

Along with these changes, there are two new execution statuses: CANCELLED and QUEUED.

Extensible Connector Permissions Change

The first iteration of the Masking Extensible Connectors, supporting the ability to upload and use JDBC drivers, required that the permissions for each driver be enumerated at install time. Delphix has now replaced this mechanism with a fixed security policy blocking only the most dangerous permissions (specifically those that could inflict harm to the Masking Engine), removing the need for user management of permissions. It remains the case that the engine administrator must ensure that only trusted JDBC driver software is installed.

File Masking Performance

The performance of file masking has been significantly improved.

Builtin Extensible Secure Lookup Framework

Delphix has added a builtin, configurable Secure Lookup Algorithm Framework, based on the Extensible Algorithms feature (introduced in 6.0.3.0 release).

This framework provides better performance and new features when compared with the Legacy Secure Lookup Algorithms.

It allows configuring the case sensitivity of input values (true/false), and the case configuration of the output values:

    Preserve Lookup File Case   // i.e. as found in Lookup File
    Preserve Input Case         // i.e. preserve case of input value - UpperCase / LowerCase / Mixed
    Force all Lowercase         // forces output to LowerCase
    Force all Uppercase         // forces output to UpperCase

The algorithm instance (based on the new Secure Lookup Algorithm Framework) might be managed via the existing Algorithm API, similar to any other plugin algorithm. The GUI has been changed for configuring/editing Secure Lookup Algorithm. For details please see the Secure Lookup Algorithm Framework

Job Scheduler Removed

As of this release, we have removed the Job Scheduler feature. The introduction of Masking’s REST API several releases ago allowed customers to schedule job executions using their preferred job scheduler. As a result, the integrated scheduler is seldom used.

Certifications

This release adds support for SQL Server 2017 and 2019.

Free Text Redaction Algorithm

The redaction strategies used in a free text redaction algorithm have been renamed to "Allowlist" and "Denylist".

New API Version

To reflect the API improvements mentioned above, the API version increased to 5.1.4 in this release. For a complete listing of version 5.1.4, see the Masking API Client page.

6.0.3.0 Release

Extensible Algorithms

We introduced a new, radically simpler, method to create new masking algorithms. With the new framework, Delphix partners and customers can create and share new algorithms.

Extensible algorithms and their related algorithm plugins can be managed through the following APIs:

Group Endpoints Description
plugin GET /plugin Get all plugins
POST /plugin Install plugin
DELETE /plugin/{pluginId} Delete plugin
GET /plugin/{pluginId} Get plugin detail by pluginId
PUT /plugin/{pluginId} Update plugin

Existing algorithm API is extended with the following endpoints:

Group Endpoints Description
algorithm GET /algorithm/frameworks Get all algorithm frameworks
GET /algorithm/frameworks/id/{frameworkId} Get algorithm framework by frameworkId

UI-based Environment Sync

Over the past several releases Delphix has introduced and refined the ability to synchronize objects between Masking Engines via the API. In 6.0.3, Delphix now supports importing and exporting environments via the UI.

Note

In this release, the deprecated XML import/export functionality has been removed. If you used the XML import/export feature in previous releases, you'll find the new Sync Environment feature to be a more robust and complete solution with complete API support in addition to being available in the UI.

New SQL Server JDBC Driver

The product switched from the jTDS JDBC driver to Microsoft's official open-source JDBC driver. This was done to obtain improved support for recent versions of SQL Server.

All SQL Server basic connectors will be converted transparently. If you used a SQL Server Advanced connector or a Generic connector using the jTDS driver, you will need to manually convert your JDBC URL to the Microsoft JDBC driver's format. To perform this conversion, please see the references for the jTDS parameters and the Microsoft JDBC parameters. Delphix Customer Support's upgrade validation checks will detect any SQL Server Advanced connectors and Generic connectors using the jTDS driver in your installation and they will notify you of the need to manually convert those connectors.

AzureSQL Managed Databases

This release is certified to be compatible with the following Azure SQL Managed Databases:

  • Azure Database for PostgreSQL service
  • Azure Database for MySQL service
  • Azure Database for MariaDB service
  • Azure Database for SQL

Note

You must enable support for non-TLS connections.

File Masking Performance

This release contains significant performance improvements for delimited and XML file masking.

New API Version

To reflect the API improvements mentioned above, the API version increased to 5.1.3 in this release. For a complete listing of version 5.1.3, see the Masking API Client page.

6.0.2.0 Release

Mainframe Data Set Improvements for Masking

This release delivers multiple quality-of-experience enhancements around mainframe masking workflows:

  • Mainframe Masking Performance: Anyone masking mainframe data sets may see a large improvement in performance.

  • Engine Sync Support for Mainframe: The Sync APIs and workflows now support mainframe objects: connectors, rule sets, jobs, and formats.

  • Mainframe Data Set Record Type APIs: This enhancement builds upon the recent release of Record Type APIs to include mainframe support. You will now be able to manage Mainframe data set record types via REST API, including redefine conditions. When masking a mainframe data set, the Masking Engine uses a mainframe data set format to interpret the data set's contents. A mainframe data set format has one default record type "All Record". If a mainframe data set format contains redefined fields, each redefined and redefines field will have a corresponding record type that holds the redefined condition for the redefined and redefines fields. Specifically, the following APIs were added:

Group Endpoints Description
mainframeDatasetRecordType GET /mainframe-dataset-record-types Get all Mainframe Dataset record type
GET /mainframe-dataset-record-types/{mainframeDatasetRecordTypeId} Get Mainframe Dataset record type by ID
PUT /mainframe-dataset-record-types/{mainframeDatasetRecordTypeId} Update Mainframe Dataset record type by ID

For more information on redefine conditions, see the Managing a Mainframe Inventory section.

JDBC to Delimited Files Support

On-the-fly masking jobs with a JDBC source and delimited file target are now supported. This is targeted at users with data lake applications. This is targeted at users with data lake applications who wish to extract unmasked data using a JDBC connection and insert masked data back using a bulk file load mechanism.

Environment Sync Support for Masking

With this release, an entire environment is now syncable with a single operation via the Sync REST APIs. Previously, Sync users would have to export/import objects on an individual basis, the process now is far more streamlined. Note: Environment Sync APIs are the preferred way of handling environment export/import versus XML-based transfer.

New API Version

To reflect the API improvements mentioned above, the API version increased to 5.1.2 in this release. For a complete listing of version 5.1.2, see the Masking API Client page.

Certifications

This release adds support for Oracle 19c.

6.0.1.0 Release

Extended Connectors

Extended Connectors is a new feature that allows you to upload additional JDBC Drivers to the Delphix Masking engine. This enables masking data sources that are not natively supported by Delphix Masking. For more information, please refer to the Managing Extended Connectors section.

Sync for Tokenization and Reidentification Jobs

The Sync feature allows you to coordinate the operation of multiple engines. This release adds Sync support for Tokenization and Reidentification Jobs. For more information on the Sync feature, please refer to the Managing Multiple Engines for Masking section.

File Record Type APIs

When masking a delimited or fixed length file, the Masking Engine uses a file format to interpret the file's contents. Each format has one or more record types. In previous releases, these record types could only be created and managed through the graphical user interface. This release adds the ability to also create and manage file record types through the APIs. Specifically, the following APIs were added:

Group Endpoints Description
recordType GET /record-types Get all record type
POST /record-types Create record type
DELETE /record-types/{recordTypeId} Delete record type by ID
GET /record-types/{recordTypeId} Get record type by ID
PUT /record-types/{recordTypeId} Update record type
recordTypeQualifier GET /record-type-qualifiers Get all record type qualifiers
POST /record-type-qualifiers Create record type qualifier
DELETE /record-type-qualifiers/{recordTypeQualifierId} Delete record type qualifier by ID
GET /record-type-qualifiers/{recordTypeQualifierId} Get record type qualifier by ID
PUT /record-type-qualifiers/{recordTypeQualifierId} Update record type qualifier by ID

Note that record types are only used for delimited and fixed length file formats. For more information on record types, see the Adding Record Types for Files section.

6.0.0.0 Release

Objects Names Requirements

In 6.0 we have added validations for objects names that can be created/renamed manually. For more information please refer to Naming Requirements. Please pay attention to the fact that enforcing these requirements might fail the import, sync, or upgrade from pre-6.0 release. Please refer to the following Knowledge Base Article KBA5096 on how to solve those failures.

Versioning Framework

6.0 marks the release of version 5.1 of the Masking API. For information on how the Masking API is versioned, please refer to the documentation here: Masking API Versioning Documentation

New API Endpoints

In 6.0 we have expanded the list of API endpoints to include:

Group Endpoints Description
Application DELETE /applications/{applicationId} Delete application by ID
Mount Filesystem GET /mount-filesystem Get all mounts
POST /mount-filesystem Create a mount
GET /mount-filesystem/{mountId} Get a mount by ID
DELETE /mount-filesystem/{mountId} Delete a mount by ID
PUT /mount-filesystem/{mountId} Update a mount by ID
PUT /mount-filesystem/{mountId}/connect Connect a mount by ID
PUT /mount-filesystem/{mountId}/disconnect Disconnect a mount by ID
PUT /mount-filesystem/{mountId}/remount Remount a mount by ID

In addition to the new API endpoints, we have improved existing API endpoints. These improvements include:

  • Addition of the applicationId field to the application model
  • Replacement of the application field with an applicationId field in the Environment model
  • Removal of the classification field from the domain model
  • Addition of the rulesetType field to the Masking, Profiling, Reidentification, and Tokenization job models.
  • Addition of mountName in the ConnectionInfo of a file connector and a mainframe dataset connector to use a filesystem mount point.

For more information on Delphix Masking APIs please see the API documentation.

NFS and CIFS Mounts

In previous releases, the Masking Engine has supported masking files via FTP or SFTP. In this release, we have added the ability for users to directly mount and mask a file system over NFS and CIFS. This should dramatically simplify the process of file masking. As with other Masking Engine objects, the Sync feature can be used to coordinate mount objects across multiple engines. For more information on the mount feature, please refer to the Managing Remote Mounts section.

5.3 Release

Synchronizing Masking Jobs and Universal Settings Across Engines

In 5.2 we introduced the ability to synchronize Masking Algorithms between engines to ensure consistent masking, regardless of the engine executing the masking. In 5.3 we are expanding the list of syncable objects to include:

  • Masking Jobs
  • Connectors
  • Rulesets
  • Domains
  • File Formats

The sync of objects is possible through improvements to several sync API endpoints, including:

  • GET /syncable-objects[?object_type=]
  • POST /export
  • POST /export-async
  • POST /import
  • POST/import-async

This expansion of syncable objects ensures that users can sync their Masking Jobs and all the objects necessary for that masking job to execute successfully - regardless of the masking engine it lives on, allowing for easier scaling of Delphix Masking across the enterprise. Please see Managing Multiple Masking Engines for more details.

Support for Kerberized Connections

In 5.2.4 we added support for Kerberos for our Oracle Masking Connector. In 5.3 we have expanded the list of connectors that support Kerberos to:

  • SQL Server
  • Sybase

To enable Kerberized connectors your engine must be configured properly and you must configure your masking Connectors for Kerberos. Kerberos can be enabled by going to the Advanced mode on Oracle, SQL Server and Sybase. Please see Managing Connectors for more details.

New API Endpoints

In 5.2 we released an all-new set of API endpoints allowing for the automation of many masking workflows. In 5.3 we have expanded this list of API endpoints around Algorithms, Users, Roles, File Upload, System Information, Login, Rulesets, and Connector. Below are the net new API endpoints:

Group Endpoints Description
Algorithms POST /algorithms Create algorithm
DELETE /algorithms/{algorithmName} Delete algorithm by name
GET /algorithms/{algorithmName} Get algorithm by name
PUT /algorithms/{algorithmName} Update algorithm by name
PUT /algorithms/{algorithmName}/randomize-key Randomize key by name
Users GET /users Get all users
POST /users Create user
DELETE /users/{userId} Delete user by ID
GET /users/{userId} Get user by ID
PUT /users/{userId} Update user by ID
Roles GET /roles Get all roles
POST /roles Create role
DELETE /roles/{roleId} Delete role by ID
GET /roles/{roleId} Get role by ID
PUT /roles/{roleId} Update role by ID
Rulesets PUT /database-rulesets/{databaseRulesetId}/bulk-table-update Update the rule set’s tables
PUT /database-rulesets/{databaseRulesetId}/refresh Refresh the rule set
Connectors POST /database-connectors/{databaseConnectorId}/test Test a database connector
POST /database-connectors/test Test an unsaved database connector
POST /file-connectors/{fileConnectorId}/test Test a file connector
POST /file-connectors/test Test an unsaved file connector
Async Tasks GET /async-tasks Get all asyncTasks
GET /async-tasks/{asyncTaskId} Get asyncTask by ID
PUT /async-tasks/{asyncTaskId}/cancel Cancel asyncTask by ID
File Upload/Download DELETE /file-uploads Delete all file uploads
POST /file-uploads Upload file
GET /file-downloads/{fileDownloadId} Download file
System Information GET /system-information Get version, etc.
Login/Logout PUT /logout User logout
Executions GET /execution-components Status for a table, file, or Mainframe data set
Tokenization Job GET /tokenization-jobs Get all tokenization jobs
POST /tokenization-jobs Create tokenization job
DELETE /tokenization-jobs/{tokenizationJobid} Delete tokenization job by ID
GET /tokenization-jobs/{tokenizationJobid} Get tokenization job by ID
PUT /tokenization-jobs/{tokenizationJobid} Update tokenization job by ID
Re-identification Job GET /reidentification-jobs Get all re-identification jobs
POST /reidentification-jobs Create re-identification job
DELETE /reidentification-jobs/{reidentificationJobid} Delete re-identification job by ID
GET /reidentification-jobs/{reidentificationJobid} Get re-identification job by ID
PUT /reidentification-jobs/{reidentificationJobid} Update re-identification job by ID
Database Rulesets PUT Update Database Ruleset by ID

In addition to the net new API endpoints, we have improved pre-existing API endpoints. Some of the improvements include:

  • Addition of DB2 iSeries and Mainframe to connector endpoints.
  • Addition of Kerberos configuration on Oracle, SQL Server, and Sybase connectors
  • Ability to have ruleset refresh drop tables
  • Support for XML file types
  • Addition of dataType to column metadata
  • Addition of isProfilerWritable field to file-field-metadata endpoints. This is now represented in the API as a new isProfilerWritable boolean field in the body of a file-field-metadata. When the isProfilerWritable field is set to true, the algorithm/domain assignment on a column can be overwritten by the profiler. When the field is false, it may not be overwritten.
  • Addition of multipleProfilerCheck field to Profile Job endpoints. This feature is turned on using the boolean field in the body of a profile job. The job profiler normally stops profiling a column as soon as it flags a field as sensitive. If multipleProfilerCheck is true, the profiler will continue to scan the column for additional sensitive patterns. In the event that it finds more than one pattern, it will tag all the data domains found and apply 'one' standard algorithm for all those domains. The standard algorithm is ‘Null SL’ as of 5.3.4.0. This feature was formerly called ‘multi PHI’.

For more information on Delphix Masking APIs please see the API documentation. Please note that the previous generation of Masking APIs (commonly referred to as V4) is EOL and no longer supported in this release. All users are encouraged to migrate to the V5 APIs.