This topic describes how to develop and maintain a data management toolkit.
Introduction
The Delphix Engine intelligently manages different forms of structured data including data from databases (Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, IBM DB2, etc.) and applications (Oracle E-Business Suite).The data management API is the set of primitive operations used to manipulate all of these forms of data.
Each form of structured data that can be managed by the Delphix Engine is succinctly referred to as a Delphix data platform. There exists an implementation of the data management API for each data platform. The implementation of data management varies greatly amongst the different data platforms. For example, Oracle database data is managed using tools such as RMAN, sqlplus and Bash scripts while Microsoft SQL Server data is managed using PowerShell scripts.
Data management's separation of interface and implementation enables Delphix Data-as-a-Service (DaaS). DaaS not only allows users to easily sync and clone copies of their data through a unified interface, but also provides a base for advanced data management functionality including replication, self-service, transformation and consolidation that is agnostic to the form underlying data.
A data management toolkit is a plugin for the Delphix Engine that provides an implementation of the data management API for a new data platform.
Glossary
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Data management API | The set of primitive operations used to manipulate all forms of structured data. |
| Data platform | A particular form of structured data. Examples include Oracle database data, Microsoft SQL Server database data, and Oracle EBS application binaries. |
| Data management toolkit | An implementation of the data management API for one particular form of structured data. |
What is a Data Management Toolkit?
A data management toolkit is a single JSON file compiled from a structured set of schemas and scripts.
This file contains an implementation of the data management API which, at a high-level, provides the Delphix Engine with the ability to:
- Discover data: Find relevant data and dependencies on an environment
- Link data: Continually import data into the Delphix Engine from an environment
- Provision data: Create and configure a virtual copy of data on a new environment
Data management toolkits can be uploaded to any post-4.0 Delphix Engine and are guaranteed to work with all future Delphix Engine versions without modification; Delphix guarantees backwards compatibility with all toolkit-related APIs. However, toolkit infrastructure is being actively developed to augment the user experience that toolkits can provide. Therefore, toolkits will need to be updated to take advantage of new features.
Design, Build and Install a Toolkit
The best way to learn more about data management toolkits is to step through the tutorial on how to Design, Build, and Install a Toolkit.