Masking Routines

A masking routine is a program that contains the processing and masking logic needed to perform the actual masking on your data.

The masking routines for the Extension Technology can be written in C or COBOL or any other type that uses the same interface and structure as the COBOL exits.

Note: This section is only intended to provide additional information regarding Extension Technology masking routines for the Micro Focus Data Express for Distributed Systems solution. Use the Data Masking Guide as your definitive Data Masking resource.

The ODBC Extension ships with pre-built masking routines, as documented in the Data Masking Guide .

Using Predefined Masking Routines

A number of masking routines are provided with your Data Express installation. For your convenience, these routines are built and ready to use. The source files are provided in the c and cobol subdirectories of src within your Data Express installation directory, along with template sources to assist in the creation of new routines.

C Masking Routines that Access Replacement Lookup Data

The following C routines require access to a data store that contains replacement lookup data:

  • UDCADDC
  • UDCCDFC
  • UDCCFPI
  • UDCCOMC
  • UDCNAMC
  • UDCSNC2
  • UDCSURC
Note: To use C masking routines that access replacement lookup data:
  1. Create and populate the lookup tables.
    Data Express includes the SQL script kb.sql that can be used to create and populate the lookup tables with predefined lookup data that works with the routines listed previously. The script may need to be amended to suit the requirements of your data store. For example:
    • The size of the replacement lookup data needs to be sized appropriately so that the masked value will fit into your user table. For example, if the column being masked is defined as a CHAR (30), you must ensure that the replacement lookup data is no larger than 30 characters in length.
    • Your data store may not require semi-colon terminators for SQL statements
    • If the data store housing your lookup data is an Oracle database, you will need to change the data type VARCHAR to VARCHAR2.
  2. Configure Data Express so that it can access the data store housing your lookup data by editing hdblayer.ini, which is located within the executables directory of your installation.
    Note: No hdblayer.ini configuration is needed if you create lookup tables in the same place where you create the runtime knowledge base. Edit information in the file as follows: 
    RDBMS = ConnectionType
 DBNAME = ConnectionAlias 
	DBOWNER = TableOwner 
	USER = UserID 
 PSWD = Password
    where:
    • ConnectionType: Set to ODBC for the ODBC Extension or ORACLE for the Oracle Extension.
    • ConnectionAlias: Set to the data store containing the lookup data.

      For the ODBC Extension, this is the data source name (DSN).

      For the Oracle Extension, this is the Oracle TNS service name as specified in your tnsnames.ora configuration file.

    • TableOwner - The table qualifier for the lookup tables.
    • UserID & Password - The connection criteria for the data store containing the lookup tables.

      For example: 

       RDBMS = ODBC 
DBNAME = MYDSN 
DBOWNER = MYOWNER 
USER = MYUSER
PSWD = MYPASSWORD
  3. Encrypt the hdblayer.ini file by executing the appropriate command.
    OS Command

    Windows

    		dxeencrypt hdblayer

    UNIX

    ./ dxeencrypt hdblayer

Parent topic: Using Extension Technology