The collection of information about a schema and its masking rules is called a Masking Set and is stored on disk as a series standard text files. In general, each logical component is located in its own file. For example, the schema information is stored separately from the rule information.

This modular architecture enables a maximum amount of flexibility and versatility to cope with changes and variations in the target database configuration. For example, if a Masking set is constructed for one version of a database schema then upgrades and physical changes to the target schema do not require a complete rebuild of the Data Masker Masking Set. All that is required is that a new schema file be associated with the existing Masking Set.

The files which compose a Data Masker Masking Set form a heirarchy. At the top of this heirarchy is the "Set File" itself - it contains the names of the other files in the set as well as information which is not associated with any one schema (such as the name of the temporary directory to use during the masking operations). The name of the Set File is the name of the Masking Set itself. Set Files always end with the file extension .dmset.

Masking Set File names and their purpose

.dmset Masking Set file, contains references to the following individual component files.

.dmconninfo Connection Information File

Contains information on the target schema name, password and connect string for all schemas.

.schema Schema Information File

Contains information on the tables, indexes and columns in the target schemas.

.fkcon Foreign Key Rule Information File

Contains foreign key information relevant to the set.

.dmrule Rule Information File

Contains Masking Rules for the set.

.dmrowcount Target Row Count File

Contains the count of the rows in each table in the target schemas.

Set File structure and content reference

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