Managing environments
This section describes how you can create and manage your environments in the masking service.
As a reminder, environments are used to group certain sets of objects within the Masking Engine. They can be thought of as folders/containers where a specified user can create manage connectors, rule sets, and jobs.
The Main Environment screen lists all the environments the logged in user has access to. It is the first screen that appears when a user logs into Delphix.
The main environments screen contains the following information and actions:
ID — The numeric ID of the environment used to refer to the environment from the Masking API.
Application — A way to indicate the name of the application whose data will be managed within this environment.
Environment — The name of the environment.
Purpose — The purpose of the environment.
Actions — List of actions
Edit — Edit the environment. See more details below.
Export — Export the environment. See more details below.
Duplicate — Copy the environment. See more details below.
Delete — Delete the environment. See more details below.
The environments on the screen can be filtered or sorted by the various informational fields by clicking on the respective field. More information on grid filtering and sorting can be found in their respective sections, in the Graphical user interface page..
Adding an application
For an environment to be created, an application needs to be specified. Here are the steps to add an application:
On the main environments page, near the upper right-hand corner of the screen, click on the + Application button.
The screen prompts you for the following items:
Application Name
Click Save to return to the Environments List screen.
Creating an environment
Here are the steps you need to take to create an environment:
On the main environments page, in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, click on the + Environment option.
The screen prompts you for the following items:
Application Name – Dropdown menu displaying the names of applications for associating with the environment, for informative purposes.
Environment Name – The display name of the new environment.
Purpose – The type of masking workflow for the environment: Mask or Tokenize/Re-Identify.
Enable Approval Workflow (Database rulesets only) – Whether or not to require approvals of inventories before masking jobs can be run in the environment. Applicable for Database rulesets only.
Either click Save to return to the Environments List screen, or click Save And View to display the environments Jobs screen.
Exporting settings
To export the Settings:
On the main environments page, in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, click on the Action drop-down list and select the Export Settings option.
The screen prompts you to take the input for the optional Passphrase.
Click Export.
All the information related to Settings (Domain, Algorithm, File Format and so on) is exported to a file.
A status message will display in the bottom sheet containing the Async Task ID generated for the export. You can utilize this ID to monitor the export status from the Monitor → Async Tasks page. Once the export process finishes, it will automatically update the status to the corresponding Async Task entry. On successful export, to download the exported file manually, click on the "Download file" option in the Actions (…) dropdown corresponding to the respective Async Task ID entry.
Importing settings
Once you have exported your settings, you can easily import it into another Masking Engine. To import settings:
On the main environments page, in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, click on the Action drop-down list and select the Import Settings option.
The screen prompts you for the following items:
Passphrase – You can input the Passphrase (optional). If the settings were exported using a passphrase then you must use the same passphrase for the import settings as well otherwise the import operation will fail.
Force Overwrite – Specify whether the import should fail if an object already exists with the same ID or the existing object should be overwritten. Click on the force overwrite checkbox if you want to overwrite the existing object.
Settings File – Click on Choose File button to browse for the exported settings file that contains the information you want to import. (This file must be a previously exported masking environment.)
Click Import button to start the import operation.
A status message appears in the bottom sheet with the Async Task Id generated for the import, using which you can check the import status from Async Task Status page. When the import operation is complete, it will automatically update the current status of the import operation on the Async Task Status page.
Exporting an environment
For a variety of different reasons (the main one being moving environments between masking engines), you may want to export all the objects within an environment (connectors, rule sets, masking jobs, etc).
To export an environment use the Export Environment option available in the Masking UI. To export an individual environment:
Click on the Actions (…) drop-down icon beside each environment entry on the Environment Listing screen, and choose the Export option. Alternatively, you can click the Export Environment button on the Environment Jobs screen.
A pop-up is displayed with the following items pre filled :
Environment Name : The display name of the new environment.
You can input the optional Passphrase.
Click Export.
All the information for the specified environment (connectors, rule sets, inventory, jobs, and so on) is exported to a file.
A status message will display in the bottom sheet containing the Async Task ID generated for the export. You can utilize this ID to monitor the export status from the Monitor → Async Tasks page. Once the export process finishes, it will automatically update the status to the corresponding Async Task entry. On successful export, to download the exported file manually, click on the "Download file" option in the Actions (…) dropdown corresponding to the respective Async Task ID entry.
Importing an environment
Once you have exported your environment, you can easily import it into another Masking Engine. To import an environment
On the main environments page, in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, click on the Select Action drop-down list and select the Import Environment option.
The screen prompts you for the following items:
Import Settings – Click the checkbox if you want to import settings as well.
Force Overwrite – Specify whether the import should fail if an object already exists with the same ID or the existing object should be overwritten. Click on force overwrite checkbox if you want to overwrite the existing object.
Application – You can select the existing application from the application drop-down or you can enter the application name to create a new application.
Environment – You can select the existing environment from the environment drop-down or you can enter the environment name to create a new environment.
OTF Environment – Click on OTF Environment checkbox to import the on-the-fly connectors into that environment.
Source Application – You can select the existing application from the source application drop-down or you can enter the application name to create a new application.
Source Environment – You can select the existing environment from the environment drop-down or you can enter the environment name to create a new environment.
Passphrase – You can input the Passphrase by clicking the Use Passphrase checkbox. If the exported file is used the passphrase then you should use the same passphrase for the import as well.
Settings File – Click on Select... button to browse for the exported settings file that contains the information you want to import. (This file must be a previously exported masking environment.)
Environment File – Click on Select... button to browse for the exported environment file that contains the information you want to import. (This file must be a previously exported Masking environment.)
Click Import button to start the import operation.
A status message appears in the bottom sheet with the Async Task Id generated for the import, using which you can check the import status from Async Task Status page. When the import operation is complete, it will automatically update the current status of the import operation on the Async Task Status page.
Editing an environment
To change the properties of an environment, do the following:
Click on the Actions (…) drop-down icon beside each environment entry on the Environment Listing screen, and choose the Edit option.
The pop-up prompts you for the following information:
Application Name – Dropdown menu displaying the names of applications for associating with the environment, for informative purposes.
Environment Name – The display name of the new environment.
Purpose – Read only, cannot be modified.
Enable Approval Workflow (Database rulesets only) – Whether or not to require approvals of inventories before masking jobs can be run in the environment. Applicable for Database rulesets only.
Click Save or Save And View.
Copying an environment
A user can also easily create an exact copy of a certain environment. This is a very powerful feature when wanting to have several similar but not exact environments but don't want to start from scratch. To copy an environment do the following:
Click on the Actions (…) drop-down icon beside each environment entry on the Environment Listing screen, and choose the Duplicate option.
The pop-up prompts you for the following information:
Environment Name – The display name of the new environment.
Application Name – Dropdown menu displaying the names of applications for associating with the environment, for informative purposes.
Purpose – Read only, cannot be modified.
Enable Approval Workflow (Database rulesets only) – Whether or not to require approvals of inventories before masking jobs can be run in the environment. Applicable for Database rulesets only.
Click Duplicate or Duplicate And View.
Deleting an environment
To delete an environment:
Click on the Actions (…) drop-down icon beside each environment entry on the Environment Listing screen, and choose the Delete option.
A confirmation dialog appears, on confirming the particular environment will be deleted.
Clicking the Delete icon deletes EVERYTHING for that environment: connections, inventory, rule sets, and so on. It does not delete universal settings like algorithms, domains, etc.