SolixCLOUD Test Data Management

SOLIXCloud is a cloud-focused enterprise data management platform from Solix Technologies that operates across both structured and unstructured data at big data scale. It consists of four solution suites: Enterprise Archiving, Enterprise Data Lake, Enterprise Content Services and Consumer Data Privacy, each of which can be deployed in-cloud, on-prem or as part of a hybrid solution across all major cloud providers. In particular, the platform provides substantial test data management (TDM) capabilities, including data masking, data discovery, data subsetting, and test data generation: a comprehensive TDM solution.

Customer Quotes

“We were able to download the software and mask an entire landscape of non-production instances in less than an hour.”
HCL America

Fig 01 – Data subsetting using Solix Technologies

For data subsetting, two methods are supported. The conventional approach is to extract your subset against a defined parameter, which in this case can span your database either horizontally or vertically (meaning you could subset by table or, for example, time). Alternatively, you could clone your database before removing or truncating data in excess of your desired subset. This is helpful (and performant) if the latter is large relative to the overall size of your database, or if your data model is particularly complex. Both methods support self-service and maintain referential integrity, and they are each shown, albeit at a high level, in Figure 1. The platform also supports snapshot technology, provided by hardware vendors such as NetApp and EMC.

Fig 02 – Data masking using Solix Technologies

As far as data masking (see Figure 2) is concerned (which may be required to secure sensitive data in test subsets), Solix can mask consistently, within single or multiple databases, and without losing referential integrity or moving your data outside of its original data source. It offers a variety of masking rules and algorithms, some of which are generic (for example, a rule that produces a random sequence of letters) while others are specific to particular types of data, for instance date of birth or social security number. Custom algorithms are supported and can be written in Java, T-SQL or PL/SQL, as are masking algorithms for both structured and unstructured data (documents, in particular), the latter primarily via redaction.

A notable differentiator for Solix is that it offers pre-packaged masking capabilities for Oracle and PeopleSoft application environments. In addition, Solix provides masking support across most leading relational databases, as well as MongoDB and flat files, and has implemented its masking algorithms natively in Oracle PL/SQL.

Fig 03 – Mapping out your data landscape using Solix Technologies

The product’s masking capabilities are complemented by a data discovery functionality that can scan, and subsequently ‘map out’, your enterprise data landscape, including both production and non-production environments. The results of this process can be seen in Figure 3. This capability examines both metadata (such as column names) gathered during data ingestion and actual data (by looking for patterns in the data values). To reduce false positives, it uses sampling to help users decide what is and is not sensitive. The solution comes pre-populated with discovery rules suitable for identifying PII, PCI, PHI, and other such industry-defined sensitive data elements. It also provides a dedicated GDPR tool for finding and actioning on data that is sensitive under GDPR. This could mean identifying, purging, archiving, or masking, depending on the situation.

Test data generation is available, but is intended as a way to augment your subsetting and/or masking processes rather than as a standalone process. To that end, there is tooling provided to ensure that generated test data is representative of your real data, and there is an embedded rules engine to help automate the data generation process.

Solix is first and foremost a data management solution, and what’s more, one that boasts particularly strong data governance, regulatory compliance (particularly data retention), data privacy, and support for the cloud. TDM capabilities are delivered, and must be understood, in that context. Solutions for data masking, subsetting and discovery are all on offer, and are each mature and effective at what they do. That said, if you are licensing Solix purely for TDM, you are missing out.

There are two reasons for this. Firstly, and most importantly, Solix is much more than just TDM. The platform as a whole is sufficiently comprehensive and far-reaching that confining it to one corner of your environment is, quite frankly, a waste. The second reason is that, as far as TDM goes, Solix is certainly good, but it lacks some of the more advanced features (you could say bells and whistles) that might be available from a more dedicated product. The question you need to be asking is: are those features worth the cost, when Solix is perfectly adequate for TDM and offers so much more besides?

The Bottom Line

Solix provides a capable TDM solution that will be of particular interest if you are struggling with data privacy and/or regulatory compliance issues, and even more so if you need a general solution for enterprise data management that includes TDM.