Updating data on Datacom RXX (Recovery) files for masking
Article ID: 241254
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
I have a question about RXX files.
For this MUF, we keep 14 months of daily RXX files. Each day a new RXX tape is created and that days LXX records are spilled to the tape file. We have a need read these files occasionally to audit who or when certain changes were made. For that process, we use the RXXREAD sample program, similar to what Kevin's Dataminer uses. Of course, we also have the RXX available for RECOVERY. We do not see the need to keep 14 months of RXX for recovery. We are only thinking a few weeks is plenty.
In this MUF, we have identified a table that contains PII data that will be tokenized going forward. So, beginning with that date, the daily RXX files will no longer have PII that we need to worry about. I was asked if we could find a way to keep these RXX tapes for the RXXREAD audit of who, when what was changed yet alter the RXX files for that a certain field in a certain table.
Does Datacom provide a utility to change RXX files? If not, are there any sample programs or recommendations for doing this? Or, is this considered a bad idea?
I'd have available the database number, table name, and a copybook. I'm not certain if the LXX/RXX format would allow me to search for any changes to that table and use the copybook to find and overwrite that field.
Environment
Component : DATACOM/DB
Component : DATACOM/AD
Resolution
First, the RXX (like its LXX source) is a transactional log file, which reflects database maintenance as it happens. Therefore, there would be no good reason to have a program that updates the RXX, as that could affect the ability to recover a database, and at its core, defeats the purpose of having an audit-capable history of activity in a given table. Also, the structure of the LXX/RXX is such that data is compressed and variable there, so I would believe that you would have a difficult time trying to sanitize the older records. As you could imagine, trying to use Datacom's compression algorithm manually would not be something I would want to do, and if you change even a single byte on the RXX, it is most likely that the table with that original record could not be recovered.
So, in answer to your questions, we have no program that would make changes to RXX records, and yes, I believe that this is a bad idea. In addition, having a copybook for a given table would not be helpful, because we do not keep entire records on the RXX in all cases, and with the data being compressed with proprietary code, you could not be guaranteed success of the reads, even if some records will work.
My recommendation here is that if you know the nature of the queries on the old data (DBID, Table, key value, etc.), you could extract those needed details from the RXX into some other file, and then throw the RXX away when it is no longer worthwhile to be used for recovery.
Additional Information
As always, please contact Broadcom support for Datacom if you have further questions.
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