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The Data Masker
Get Table Row Counts Dialog Box

When designing Masking Sets it is useful to know the number of rows in each table in the target schema. This allows decisions to be made about the relative importance of the table and which rule type is most appropriate to mask a column within it. Because it can be quite a time consuming affair to get row counts from tables the Data Masker application offers the ability to acquire the target schema table row counts and save them to a file which can be associated with the Masking Set.

Note: The Data Masker application does not need the target row counts in order to function. They are purely for informational use. Because the Row Count files are stored locally they will not update themselves automatically. If the row counts should change in the tables in the target schema - they must be re-generated as and when required. This can be done at any time using the Refresh Table Row Counts button on the Data Masker Misc. Setup tab.


The Data Masker Get Table Row Counts Dialog Box

Shortly after the Get Table Row Counts dialog box starts, the panel at the left will fill with a list of each table known to the Data Masker. Associated with each table is one column "Src. Rows". At the immediate left of each table name is a check box. This check box indicates whether the table should be included when the row counts are requested from the remote schema.

What the columns mean
Src. Rows
The Src. Rows column indicates the number of rows the table contains in the target schema. If Src. Row counts are already known, this column will be populated when the dialog box starts. Otherwise it will be populated when the row counts are taken.

Clicking on the check box to the left of the table name will cause it to be included when the row counts are requested. In order to avoid the annoyance of repeatedly clicking numerous tables, there are two buttons on the right which can select multiple tables at once. Use the Select/Unselect All Tables and Select Tables with Unknown Counts buttons to include groups of tables when the row counts are acquired.

There are two methods of acquiring row counts - either by the old fashioned SELECT count(*) from... or by picking them up out of the table statistics. The statistics method is much faster but it should only be used if it is certain that the statistics are up-to-date. Otherwise the row counts will be unavailable or erroneous. Use the Fetch Selected Table Row Count via Count(*) and Fetch Selected Table Row Count from Statistics buttons to acquire the statistics for the selected tables.

Once the table row counts have been obtained they will automatically be made visible to the Data Masker application.


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