Perforce Delphix Continuous Compliance for Data Masking on AWS

For my main use case, I use Perforce Delphix  for test environment and release management. Being able to go back in time and do time-lapse information on Perforce Delphix , along with the ability to revisit previous builds and configurations and redeploy code on Perforce Delphix, enables me to go back in time in terms of environments.

In one case with Perforce Delphix, I had 43 environments with multiple projects on the go. We had various branches of releases. Perforce Delphix enabled us to go to different points and utilize the systems, do snapshots, and roll back for different projects to different environment builds and configurations. It was really good at that. It enabled us to keep multiple projects on the go, test out various scenarios, and roll back to previous versions. It was very robust, very solid, and very useful in that capacity.

Regarding my main use case with Perforce Delphix, we used it for the coordination of rollbacks and releases, being able to utilize solid configuration management, and being able to manage the databases in a better way.

Environment management with Perforce Delphix was the most useful feature. Data masking was a feature which was there because we could take snapshots from production, carry out data masking, and utilize that on non-production environments, especially pre-production or staging environments. That worked really well and was a good feature in Perforce Delphix.

Perforce Delphix has positively impacted my organization as it saved a lot of time. Being able to roll back and utilize the existing infrastructure without having to stand up new environments enabled us to save time on the number of environments, even though we had quite a few anyway. It stopped us from having to build more and kept multiple projects on track and in stream. The main advantage for us was the time saved.

I cannot answer that regarding Perforce Delphix at the moment as I would have to see what the new versions offer.

Perforce Delphix is a great product that I find very useful.

Regarding Perforce Delphix's AI capabilities, I think its governance and security are very good.

I have not had enough dealings with the AI side of Perforce Delphix to be able to give an answer on that.

I have used Perforce Delphix for about three years on and off, but continuously for about two to three years. There have been obvious gaps, and it has been upgraded. I have revisited the company recently, so I have historical knowledge on Perforce Delphix.

Perforce Delphix is stable.

Perforce Delphix is very scalable.

The customer support for Perforce Delphix is very good and excellent. I would rate the customer support for Perforce Delphix on a scale of 1 to 10 as a nine.

I have seen a return on investment with Perforce Delphix, as we needed fewer employees.

Regarding my experience with pricing, Perforce Delphix is not cheap. I have no issues with licensing.

My main use case for Perforce Delphix  is data virtualization and data masking. Data masking involves using algorithms and masking techniques to mask data, and virtualization puts the data into lower environments. There is no need to wait for database administrators, developers, or anyone to refresh the data into lower environments. The process is very quick and can be done on-demand.

Perforce Delphix  has impacted my organization positively in terms of data virtualization. It was very helpful for test data management because the manpower that we needed to manage all the databases and wait for database administrators was really minimized. It was also very helpful in terms of audits and regulation maintenance. In this way, it has really benefited our organization positively.

The best features Perforce Delphix offers include its ability to profile data and find sensitive information, as well as suggest masking algorithms that can be applied. It also has DevOps features and the ability to virtualize data really quickly without depending on anyone else. The process is quick and easy to execute.

The sensitive data discovery and masking suggestions have helped my team by finding sensitive data at the row and column level. It provides an inventory after the discovery and masking, and also provides masking algorithms such as character mapping algorithms, sensitive discovery algorithms, or date and time functions. There is also the ability to create custom inventory maps to mask fields accordingly.

The profiler jobs are really quick and find sensitive details rapidly while showing what needs to be masked. Regarding virtualization, the VDBs do not consume complete storage that resides on-premise or in the cloud. Once the dSource, which is the actual database, is attached, it takes the transaction logs and keeps in touch with the database. If attaching a dSource takes one day, there is no need to wait that same amount of time for every virtual database created thereafter. VDBs are quick and lightweight, making them very cost-effective in terms of usage and storage.

When working with masking algorithms, there can be issues or lag if they are not configured properly. The tool also requires assistance with attaching the GenRocket  feature, which is a synthetic data generator used for masking real-looking data. If needed, users must seek help from the GenRocket  feature because it is highly effective. Perforce Delphix has its own synthetic data generator based on AI, which is developing, but this feature could still be improved.

Perforce Delphix requires having technical experts in place, such as DevOps engineers, to work with the tool effectively. Training and certifications are needed to work on the tool, which can be provided by Perforce Delphix. Teams would need Perforce Delphix experts, technology specialists, and DevOps engineers, and the necessary training should be completed before working with the tool.

I have been using Perforce Delphix for around three years, and it is a very good tool for data masking and virtualization, predominantly for virtualization because it performs very well when scaling up to meet demand.

Regarding Perforce Delphix's AI capabilities, people need to be more informed about them because there must be an auditor in place to review the audits, governance, and security being put in place by the AI. An actually certified auditor must go through the governance that has been implemented by the AI. This feature is developing and needs monitoring in place as well.

For sensitive data generation, Perforce Delphix has a small AI running. It is somewhat accurate, but it cannot be relied upon for larger data sets, and the GenRocket feature would be needed in place. This area still needs improvement.

Regarding specific outcomes or metrics from using Perforce Delphix, I would recommend this tool especially for larger data sets. If you are maintaining enterprise-level data with larger data sets such as 10 TB, 12 TB, or more, this tool is appropriate. If you are running a small-scale industry with limited budget, Perforce Delphix may not be suitable because it is costly. If you have a larger business and are going to implement Perforce Delphix into your organization, it is a good choice. However, if it is a small-scale industry, alternatives should be considered because provisioning Perforce Delphix is really costly. It really does provide the best outcomes that can be expected, and it can be relied upon if you have a very large-scale industry, very large data sets, enterprise-level data, or are managing enterprise-level applications. The time saved is around 60 percent in terms of waiting for other workflows to be completed and waiting for data analysts and database administrators to refresh data. In terms of manual work, it also saves a lot of time.

I give this review an overall rating of 9 out of 10.

We are using Perforce Delphix  for test data management, where we perform data masking, virtualization, and create VDBs from Perforce Delphix  for data virtualization.

For example, I work for a banking client that has a lot of PII information, which stands for personal identifiable information. We use Perforce Delphix to connect to the database, analyze the data for PII, and identify all the PII fields such as first name, last name, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses. We finalize the list of PII columns and perform masking by identifying different masking algorithms. The masking algorithms ensure that if you want to mask a mobile number, it appears in the same format as a ten-digit number, but it is not real-time data. Similarly, if there is a customer named Samantha Prabhu, we replace it with something else such as Richa Joshi, ensuring that the data is altered and not live customer information. For virtualization, we use Perforce Delphix to virtualize data and create different VDBs. Given that database sizes in production environments can be in terabytes, we cannot take the entire dataset into the testing environment for various testing or developmental purposes, so we create VDBs. The VDBs can reduce the data size, such as one terabyte being shrunk to one GB, enabling its use for diverse purposes including analysis and providing the VDB to testing or development teams for business and analytics. We use a virtualization engine to transfer the data from production to testing environments in a smaller subset.

It is an everyday task to mask the data for different databases across various applications in banking clients, where multiple applications hold different kinds of PII. We need to analyze the databases using Perforce Delphix and perform masking daily, and for virtualization, the same applies. We take snapshots, record the data, and maintain copies as VDB and PDB in our virtualization engine for access when needed, such as when testing requires a subset of six-month-old data. If we have that data in our VDB, it can be quickly provided to the testing team for their purposes without lengthy authorization processes related to data extraction from production.

Test data management is crucial in the testing and development life cycle, as correct data drives the development of valuable features in applications. Quality data is essential for effective testing, enabling the discovery of issues and bugs. Perforce Delphix is a valuable tool that ensures the delivery of compliant data that does not violate data protection policies such as GDPR or HIPAA, thereby protecting customer information while providing high-quality test data that resembles live production data but is masked. Perforce Delphix helps prevent data loss and fines associated with data protection violations, improving the organization by ensuring compliance and facilitating quick access to quality data that saves time and costs during development and testing.

Perforce Delphix ensures that compliance requirements related to GDPR and other data protection policies are met by masking personal identifiable information such as names and addresses. As a result, the organization avoids hefty fines similar to what Facebook faced due to compliance issues.

The best feature in Perforce Delphix is virtualization, as it allows for a multitude of VDBs that do not consume physical space on your server. You can create multiple VDBs, distribute that data through PDBs to various testing teams for testing purposes, and provide the same dataset in different VDBs to development teams for their activities. Additionally, masking is another standout feature, enabling identification and scanning for PII, data profiling, and subsequently performing masking with customizable rules. The third notable feature is the ability to roll back data; if the deployed masked data malfunctions, you can revert to a previous version, correct any issues, and reload it.

An improvement for Perforce Delphix could be in subsetting, as it currently lacks variety in its subsetting rules. When retrieving data, it can be limited to specific time frames, without options for country or state specificity, which would be beneficial. Additionally, there is a need for features to facilitate synthetic data generation in testing environments.

Occasionally, issues arise with VDBs, which can become corrupted, making data retrieval impossible and possibly resulting in data loss. There should be a more robust mechanism for retrieving VDBs to mitigate the risk of crashing and potential data loss.

I have been using Perforce Delphix for the past five years.

In my experience, Perforce Delphix is very stable.

Perforce Delphix's scalability is good as it integrates well with current CI/CD pipelines and provides solutions for various applications, enabling the creation of pipelines that trigger jobs directly within Perforce Delphix for refreshes and other automation tasks.

Customer support from Perforce Delphix is excellent, as they are very helpful and provide timely solutions.

I previously used Broadcom TDM, which is a competitive test data management tool known for its excellent features in data masking, data subsetting, and synthetic data generation, surpassing Perforce Delphix in several areas except for virtualization.

There is a return on investment for Perforce Delphix, but I do not have specific metrics available to quantify savings in time, money, or manpower.

The pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Perforce Delphix are substantial, making it unaffordable for small organizations and startups. It is mainly utilized by larger clients such as banking and healthcare providers capable of funding such an investment.

We evaluated options such as Informatica TDM  and Tonic tool, but their performance was inadequate for handling large datasets, leading us to choose Perforce Delphix.

The rollback feature is useful when you need to mask data from a specific period, and upon refreshing the data into the testing environment, if it becomes corrupted, effectively stopping progress. The rollback allows you to return to a previous version, rectify the problem, and refresh the data again, thereby saving significant time during testing as you can correct issues without lengthy delays.

My advice for those looking into using Perforce Delphix is to learn how to create different masking rules prior to using the tool, ensuring familiarity with the interface and a basic understanding of data administration. I give Perforce Delphix an overall rating of 8.5 out of 10.

My main use case for Perforce Delphix  was refreshing production databases.

The best features Perforce Delphix  offers are quick and easy production-like database management. Refreshing databases is easy and efficient. For example, before using Perforce Delphix, we exported and imported databases to refresh production databases for test cases, but after we implemented Perforce Delphix, we refreshed them more efficiently and quickly.

Refreshing UAT databases takes nearly five minutes with Perforce Delphix, but before that, we exported and imported them along with importing the schema. Perforce Delphix has positively impacted my organization as I saved considerable time.

I am not currently using Perforce Delphix, so I cannot comment on how it can be improved. I cannot recall any needed improvements from my past experience with Perforce Delphix. Since I have not used Perforce Delphix for nearly five or six years, I cannot add anything specifically about needed improvements.

I have been working in my current field for nearly 10 years.

Perforce Delphix is stable in my experience. After we tested it in our company, other companies tested it and implemented it to their production environment.

Perforce Delphix reduces storage, so it takes about five minutes to make a UAT test environment, and I did not notice any issues as our data or usage grew.

The customer support for Perforce Delphix, based on my experience, is initially not easy to reach, but in the succession stage, it is easy to reach support.

Perforce Delphix was the first program that we used for refreshing databases.

I used Perforce Delphix for nearly two or three years. I found it easy to use.

I used Perforce Delphix during my junior years, but I left it because I began working at another company.

I have not seen a return on investment from using Perforce Delphix, and I am not the one in charge of investment or licensing information.

I do not know the licensing information or setup cost for Perforce Delphix because I am not the one in charge of that.

I did not evaluate any other options before choosing Perforce Delphix.

My advice to others looking into using Perforce Delphix is that it reduces time, is easy to implement, and also reduces storage. I would give this product a rating of 9 out of 10.