Data Masker for SQL Server is a product that helps to change data for compliance purposes. It works well, but it isn’t intuitive in a few ways. We bought the product and it has been improved, but it still sometimes throws me for a loop with certain features.
Recently I was editing a masking set and I added a table to the database. In this case, I opened my masking set and went to add a masking rule, but the table wasn’t there. It took me a few minutes to figure out how do to this.
This is documented, but there are a lot more words there than this simple procedure that worked for me.
Refresh the Controller
Your masking set has a controller for each schema (essentially). If you pick the controller, you can select “Edit rule”.
In this rule, go to the Tools tab. The first button is a refresh button. Pick that.
Now, you see more stuff, but in this case since I added a new table, I click the top button. This is Refresh All Tables, under the “ignore exclusion list” section.
This runs, and I’ll see my new table(s) in the left list of Known Tables. Click the Save and Update button. You should get a confirmation that tables are updated. You can turn off some of these dialogs, so this might not appear for you. I usually don’t turn these off since I demo things.
Then update the rule controller. It isn’t intuitive that you need to click “Save” or “Update” on every screen, especially in modern software where we expect changes to just be made on selection. However, this is an older design and needs the confirmation.
Now, you should see the new table in any rules you create/edit.
Data Masker is a great tool for protecting data in non-production environments. It is highly customizable and lets you meet your compliance or regulatory needs. Download an eval today and give it a try.
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