Continue # Infosys Whitepaper 
  These features have the potential to bring  significant cost savings and efficiency  improvements from a TDM perspective.<|endoftext|>TDM use cases TDM processes can be broadly divided  into data refresh and data provisioning  processes. The data refresh process involves  refreshing a non-production database with  required datasets. The data provisioning  process is concerned with mining this data  and allocation of identified records to end  users. Database virtualization is applicable  External Document © 2018 Infosys Limited 

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 to the former process viz. data refresh. Let  us look at some relevant cases of how it can  be leveraged for TDM: a) Database virtualization in non- production environments As we have seen, in the traditional  approach, each non-production database is  a physical copy or subset of the production  copy. With a database virtualization  tool, the non-production environments  are virtual database clones. An added  advantage here is that if the data in any  environment is corrupted –- let’s say after  a round of testing –- it is very easy to  revert the data back to its original state.  Some database virtualization tools provide  support for data masking, which is a key  requirement of most TDM implementations.  A simplified depiction of this scenario is  shown below: Production  Database Non-production environment setupby  virtual cloning of production database Virtual Clone 1 Virtual Clone 2 Virtual Clone 3 Database  virtualization  engine[+ Data  masking] b) Database virtualization with data  masking Data masking is often a key TDM  requirement and not all database  virtualization tools support it. In this case,  an intermediate database can be setup,  which will store the masked data and serve  as the source database for the database  virtualization engine. The intermediate  database might be a full or partial copy of  the production database. Data masking can  be achieved by either using industry  standard TDM tools or custom scripts.<|endoftext|>Virtual Clone 2 Virtual Clone 3 Virtual Clone 1 Mask Non-production environment setup  with data masking and virtual cloning Production Database Data extraction/ sub-setting Intermediate Database Data masking  utility Database  virtualization  engine c) Database virtualization with data  masking and synthetic data creation In practice, there may be several data  requirements from data consumers that  cannot be fulfilled from production  databases, as the data is unavailable. This  may be the case, for example, in new  development programs that may require  data for testing. In this case, a synthetic  data creation tool can be used to generate  data, which in turn can be inserted into the  intermediate database. As the intermediate  database is being used as the source for the  database virtualization engine, it will  ensure that the virtual database clones  reflect the generated data, in addition to  the production data.<|endoftext|>Virtual Clone 2 Virtual Clone 3 Virtual Clone 1 Mask Non-production environment setup with  synthetic data generation and virtual cloning Production Database Data extraction/ sub-setting Intermediate Database Data masking  utility Database  virtualization  engine Data  generation Benefits for TDM The key benefits that database  virtualization can provide for TDM are: 1.  Faster test data setup and refresh:  Database virtualization can be  leveraged for rapidly provisioning a  database clone from a source database;  for example, production, disaster  recovery, a gold copy etc. Similarly,  refreshing a virtual database clone can  be executed quite quickly.<|endoftext|>2.  Cost savings: Test databases,  being virtual clones, do not require  physical storage space. Also, database  virtualization tools do not maintain full  copies of the data — only the changes  in data are tracked and logged.  This results in significant savings in  hardware costs.<|endoftext|>3.  Increased reuse:  Most database  virtualization tools provide point- in-time snapshots. Thus, if there is a  need, for example, to repeat a round  of testing or a specific test case, it is  easy to roll back the database to a  previous state.  External Document © 2018 Infosys Limited 

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 4.  Increased test environment  availability: As virtual database clones  have a significantly lower resource  utilization as compared to physical  databases, it is feasible to have larger  number of test databases at any given  point in time. This can significantly  eliminate environment contentions  and increase productivity.<|endoftext|>5.  Enable TDM for DevOps: DevOps  teams can rapidly provision data for  dev and test environments using  self-service features, thus enabling  continuous integration.<|endoftext|>Best practices While considering database virtualization  for TDM, the following best practices  should be followed: 1.  Conduct product fitment: There are  several robust database virtualization  products available in the market today,  with significantly varying feature- sets and technology compatibility.  Hence, it is an imperative to carry out  a comprehensive product fitment  analysis before selecting the right  product, keeping in mind the current  and long term needs.<|endoftext|>2.  Protect sensitive data: Production  databases often contain sensitive  information that if exposed can  result in serious data breaches. It is  imperative to have a mechanism in  place to mask sensitive information  so that the virtual database clones  provisioned for development and  testing are properly desensitized.  One strategy could be to leverage a  database virtualization product that  inherently supports data masking or  even setting up a staging database that  has desensitized data as the source  database for the virtualization engine  (instead of using the production  database directly as the source).  3.  Plan for data reusability: As database  states can be easily rolled back and  rolled forward, a data reuse strategy  should be put in place to effectively  utilize this feature for relevant scenarios  (for example, regression testing cycles).   4.  Enable self-service: Relevant  development / testing team members  should be provided access to create  virtual database clones to decrease the  dependency on DBAs.  5.  Monitor performance metrics: Key  database performance metrics, such  as SQL query response time, need  to be monitored before and after  virtualization, so that corrective action  may be taken accordingly.<|endoftext|>Database virtualization  product examples Listed below are a few database  virtualization tools available in the market  today, which can create virtual database  clones. As this technology is still maturing  and evolving, the databases supported by  these vendors are likely to increase soon: # Tool Databases  supported 1 Delphix DaaS Oracle, SQL  Server,  Sybase, DB2,  PostGres, MySQL 2 Actifio  Copy Data  Virtualization Oracle, MS SQL  Server 3 NetApp  FlexClone Oracle 4 EMC XtremIO Oracle, MS SQL  Server 5 VMware  vFabric Data  Director Oracle, SQL  Server,  MySQL External Document © 2018 Infosys Limited 

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 Conclusion As compared to the traditional approach,  database virtualization offers significant  opportunities in terms of cost optimization  and efficiency improvements in non- production environments. The features  offered by these tools are specifically  useful for databases used for development  and testing purposes. The key benefits of  leveraging database virtualization for TDM  are faster test data setup, cost savings in  disk space and increased reusability of  test data. Moreover, the ability to provide  self-service, coupled with features like ease  of refresh, taking point-in-time snapshots,  write backs to the source database and  ability to roll back any changes made  can be a game-changer in the effective  management of test data. Enterprises  would be well advised to take a serious  look at database virtualization tools,  irrespective of whether they have a formal  TDM implementation in place.<|endoftext|>External Document © 2018 Infosys Limited 

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 © 2018 Infosys Limited, Bengaluru, India. All Rights Reserved. Infosys believes the information in this document is accurate as of its publication date; such information is subject to change without notice. Infosys  acknowledges the proprietary rights of other companies to the trademarks, product names and such other intellectual property rights mentioned in this document. Except as expressly permitted, neither this  documentation nor any part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, printing, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the  prior permission of Infosys Limited and/ or any named intellectual property rights holders under this document.  For more information, contact askus@infosys.com Infosys.com | NYSE: INFY Stay Connected   


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