Configuring selective data distribution

This topic describes how to configure Selective Data Distribution between Delphix Engines. Selective data distribution relies on the replication infrastructure to transmit masked data, as such configuring selective data distribution is similar to configuring replication.

Prerequisites

The replication target can be on the same or newer version than the replication source. Starting 6.0.10.0, replication operation can not go beyond engine versions released more than 12 months apart. For more information, see Replication Overview.
The target Delphix Engine must be reachable from the source engine.
The target Delphix Engine must have sufficient free storage to receive the replicated data.
The user must have administrative privileges on the source and the target engines.

Configuring the network

Replication and selective data distribution operate using a private network protocol between two Delphix Engines. Apart from standard network considerations for performance, no additional configuration is required for replication. Replication and selective data distribution can run over dedicated networks by configuring routing to direct traffic destined for the target IP address over a specific interface. The selective data distribution process can recover from transient network outages, but extended outages may cause the process to start from the previous update.

The selective data distribution network protocol uses TCP port 8415. If there is a firewall between the source and target that is blocking this port, then there are two possible solutions:

Enable port 8415 on the firewall in order to allow connections to this port from the source to the target.

Selective data distribution can connect through a SOCKS proxy if one exists. Configure the SOCKS proxy address and port by connecting to the command-line interface (CLI) as a system administrator and navigating to "service proxy" to update the socks configuration. Example:

CODE

dlpx-engine> service proxy
dlpx-engine service proxy> update
dlpx-engine service proxy update *> set socks.enabled=true
dlpx-engine service proxy update *> set socks.host=10.2.3.4
dlpx-engine service proxy update *> set socks.username=someuser
dlpx-engine service proxy update *> set socks.password=somepassword
dlpx-engine service proxy update *> commit
dlpx-engine service proxy> get
    type: ProxyService
    https:
        type: ProxyConfiguration
        enabled: false
        host: (unset)
        password: (unset)
        port: 8080
        username: (unset)
    socks:
        type: ProxyConfiguration
        enabled: true
        host: 10.2.3.4
        password: ********
        port: 1080
        username: someuser

Note that SOCKS port 1080 is used by default, but you can override it.

Configuring the source Delphix engine

On the source Delphix Engine, click System.
Select Replication.
In the left-hand navigation section, click Create Profile.
Enter the name of the replication profile and an optional description.
Select type Selective Data Distribution.
For Target Engine, enter the hostname or IP address for the target Delphix Engine.
Enter the username and password of a user who has Delphix Admin-level credentials on the target Delphix Engine. If the username and password change on the target Delphix Engine, you must update these settings on the source Delphix Engine.
By default, automatic replication is disabled, meaning that you must trigger replication updates manually. To enable automatic replication, click the Enabled checkbox.
In the Automatic Replication field, enter the Frequency and Starting Time for replication updates to the target Delphix Engine. Once you have entered and saved your replication settings, you will also see an option to trigger replication immediately with the Replicate Now button.
Note:
Quartz scheduling Automatic replication uses Quartz for scheduling. Starting with Delphix version 4.2, the Quartz-formatted string is editable via the Advanced option.
Under Traffic Options, select whether you want to Encrypt traffic or Limit bandwidth during replication updates. Note:
Encrypting Traffic By default, replication streams are sent unencrypted. This provides maximum performance on a secure network. If the network is insecure, encryption can be enabled. Note that encrypting the replication stream will consume additional CPU resources and may limit the maximum bandwidth that can be achieved.
Note:
Limiting Bandwidth By default, replication will run at the maximum speed permitted by the underlying infrastructure. In some cases, particularly when a shared network is being used, replication can increase resource contention and may impact the performance of other operations. This option allows you to specify the maximum bandwidth that replication can consume.
In the right-hand column, under Objects Being Replicated, click the checkboxesnext to the objects you want to replicate.
Note:
Selected Objects
1. You can only select masked VDBs for selective data distribution.
2. The parent dSource or VDB (and any parents in its lineage) are NOT automatically included. Some of the data from the parent may be included for disk space optimization. In addition, any environments containing database instances used as part of a replicated VDB are included as well.
3. When replicating individual VDBs, only those database instances and repositories required to represent the replicated VDBs are included. Other database instances that may be part of the environment, such as those for other VDBs, are not included.
Click Create Profile to submit the new profile. This saves the replication profile details. If you leave the Create page prior to submitting the profile, the draft replication profile will be discarded.

Note:
Configuring Replication and Multiple Target Engines through the CLI
You can also configure replication on the Source Delphix Engine by using the replication spec in the command line interface. For more information, see the topics under CLI Cookbook: Replication.

Note:

Enabling Configuration of Multiple Replication Profile
Learn how to configure and use functionality for multiple replication profiles on the source using the replication profiles in the Replication User Interface.

Configuring the target Delphix engine

No additional configuration on the target is needed. Selectively distributed objects will appear in an alternate replica that mirrors the original object layout. To view these replicas:

Click System.
Select Replication.
Review items listed under Received Replicas.

Alternatively, you can view replicas under namespace in the command-line interface (CLI). All replicated objects are read-only. For more information about managing replicas, see Selective Data Distribution and Failover.

Multiple sources can replicate to the same target, allowing for the flexible geographical distribution of data. You can create and manage objects on the target server without affecting subsequent updates. However, you cannot use selective data distribution for disaster recovery.