Announcements

We are pleased to announce the release of Delphix version 6.0.7 and other significant updates made in February and March 2021.

These updates expand masking functionality, enhance security for the Virtualization SDK, and improve storage capacity. In addition, we added stronger on-masking engine safeguards to the users and groups experience in Data Control Tower (formerly branded "Central Management").

Significant Capabilities Introduced in 6.0.7 Include:

• New Date Masking Frameworks: We have introduced new date masking frameworks that remove the need for many custom date algorithms. New default implementations include date replacement, date shift and dependent date shift (see technical section below for more details).
• New Credit Card Masking Algorithms: We have added a robust payment-card masking framework as well as a default algorithm for credit card data.
• New CLI & Python library to simplify Delphix integration into automated workflows: As part of our initiative to make it easier to integrate Delphix with CI/CD, ProdOps, AI/ML and other ecosystems, we are pleased to introduce dxi. dxi is a new CLI and Python Library designed to seamlessly integrate Delphix virtualization operations into automated workflows.

Data Control Tower (Formerly Central Management) Update

• Masking Engine Changes: Global Object Control
  Now access to a masking engine's objects is determined by assigning authorization via global access groups. When an engine opts into the global model, it deactivates local object access in the UI, thus ensuring the local values will not be overridden via frequent scans from Data Control Tower.

Technical Update

• New Date Masking Frameworks, continued: The new date masking frameworks include the following:
  • 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.
  • Dependent Date Shift: Masks date values that have a dependency, such as admission and discharge date using the same algorithm as Date Shift. Allows masking of both the initial date and the difference between the dates.
• New CLI & Python library to simplify Delphix integration into automated workflows: Actions that previously required multiple API calls and a steep learning curve can now be achieved with a single, intuitive call to the Python library or invocation of a single CLI command. Developers, DevOps engineers, SREs and Data Scientists will especially benefit from the Python Library, their typical language of choice when building integrations. dxi will be supported by engineering and will be available at download.delphix.com.
• Virtualization SDK Support for Password Vaults: Building off of the existing CyberArk and Hashicorp support for Oracle, SQL Server and SAP ASE database user credentials, Delphix Virtualization has extended password vault coverage to the virtualization SDK (vSDK). This enables data sources that are connected via a vSDK plugin to incorporate this more secure method of authentication.
• ASE Device Mapping Improvements: The Delphix Virtualization experience with SAP ASE heavily relies on and mirrors a database's device allocation from the initial load (creating the dSource) to provision (creating VDBs). However, dramatic device layout changes can negatively impact performance. This enhancement provides a quality-of-life (QoL) improvement to the overall ASE experience by providing better error handling and escape valves in case a dSource moves into a bad state due to a major device layout shift.
• Improved Storage Utilization for Large Pools: Up through the 6.0.6 release, Delphix Virtualization has enforced a storage usage limit of 85%. Once met, this limit will cause certain API operations to be disabled to ensure engine data integrity. In the 6.0.7 release, this threshold has been relaxed significantly.
• PVSCSI support: In addition to LSI Logic, with this release, Delphix has added support for the VMware Paravirtual vSCSI controller (aka PVSCSI). While VMware designed PVSCSI to support very high throughput with minimal processing cost, the performance improvements on Delphix engines can vary from case to case. In 6.0.7, we also support manual changes from LSI Logic to PVSCSI for currently deployed engines.
• Simplified Connection Management for Oracle DB: Prior to this release, we established connections to Oracle databases from two distinct locations (remote connections from the Delphix Engine and local connections from the Delphix toolkit) and we communicated with Oracle databases using two different users (an OS user and a DB user). Now all communication with Oracle databases will be performed locally on the database server and connections will be established using OS authentication, thereby eliminating the need for a Delphix DB user.
• Db2 support for Backup Database Online Exclude Logs: Db2 users will now be able to use their online backups without logs on Delphix. This feature offers you greater flexibility in how you manage your online backups and logs for Db2. Given that logs are no longer packaged with the backup file, you will need to provide them by specifying an alternate path. The logs will then be applied to the dSource during snapshot creation.

Certifications

• Oracle 19c with RHEL 8.3
• ASE 16.0 with RHEL 8.3

For more details and a complete list of features and fixes, please see the release notes. If you have questions about Delphix 6.0.7, please visit our community site and our support site.

Delphix 6.0.7 is immediately available for new installs. The Cloud Marketplace images will follow the GA by up to 2 weeks. Please contact Delphix Support if you need help with upgrades.

Thanks,
The Delphix Team