Windocks delivers complete database environments for all of your non-production needs, including development, test, support, ML/AI, reporting, and DevOps. Designed to maintain security and data privacy, Windocks leverages container and cloning technology to reduce infrastructure and overhead associated with maintaining multiple environments.
Explore these topics for a deeper dive into how Windocks works.
On-demand databases delivered through database orchestration
On-demand is the ability to get a database (usually production data) with a click or an API call. Production databases must be customized for the use case. Testing requires sensitive data obfuscation while reporting does not. Feature branch developers need database scripts from a repo applied to the database.
Database orchestration is a supervisory control plane service that coordinates different services such as cloning, containerization, production refresh, access control, masking, synthetic data generation, and script repos to customize and deliver databases.
With Windocks, you can simply provide a specification (dockerfile) that describes the databases you want, the masking requirements, database scripts to apply, which repo hosts the scripts, how often to refresh from production, where you want to deliver the databases (containers or instances), and access controls.
Windocks database orchestration delivers the customized databases on demand. You can use a web application, command line or REST API. Windocks supports SQL Server (all versions and editions), Oracle (11 and up), PostgreSQL, MySql, and Azure SQL.
Automating database cloning, masking, synthetic data, and access control
Database cloning delivers database copies in seconds no matter how big the database. Multiple copies use the same disk blocks so copies are made instantaneously and without using additional storage. Before database clones are delivered, sensitive data can be obfuscated before delivery using database masking technology.
Windocks database cloning technology is based on standard operating system technology in Linux and Windows. Database clones are writeable and delivered instantaneously no matter how big the database. Windocks masking discovers and obfuscates sensitive data. In addition, Windocks synthetic data generation capabilities provide privacy protections beyond what can be delivered through masking alone.
Masked production database clones or generated synthetic data based on those production clones for SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, and PostgreSQL are delivered in containers or instances. Refreshes from production are automated so database clones always reflect the current production data.
Oracle containers, SQL Server containers for Windows, Azure SQL, RDS SQL
SQL Server and Oracle containers are isolated SQL Servers and Oracle processes running on a single machine on different ports. They can be created and removed quickly so they are suitable for test, dev, ML, and DevOps. SQL Server production usually runs on Windows and Azure SQL and Amazon RDS SQL Server also run on Windows libraries. So, the best practice is to develop and test in SQL Server Windows containers with production data since that is identical to production. SQL Server Windows container technology is provided by Windocks and supports SQL Server, Azure SQL, and RDS SQL databases. Oracle production runs principally on Linux, which means the best practice is to do dev and test in Oracle Linux containers. Oracle container technology is provided by Docker and is based on Oracle Linux
Windocks SQL Server containers for Windows SQL Azure and RDS SQL are available for SQL Server 2008, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2022 – Express, Developer, Standard, and Enterprise with support for Active Directory authentication. They support SQL Server databases using backups or database files and they support Azure SQL databases using BACPAC. Windocks SQL Server containers include Agent, Analysis (SSAS), reporting (SSRS) and integration (SSIS) services. Oracle containers for Linux are available for Oracle 11, 12, 18, 19, 21. Windocks delivers customized production database clones to Windocks SQL Server containers or docker Oracle containers for Linux.