Getting started with the Structural free trial
If you are a user who wants to set up an account in an existing Tonic Structural Cloud or self-hosted organization, go to Creating a new account in an existing organization.
About the Structural free trial
The Structural 14-day free trial allows you to explore and experiment in Structural Cloud before you decide whether to purchase Structural.
When you sign up for a free trial, Structural automatically creates a sample workspace for you to use. You can also create a workspace that uses your own database or files.
The free trial provides tools to introduce you to Structural and to guide you through configuring and completing a data generation.
Structural tracks and displays the amount of time remaining in your free trial. You can request a demonstration and contact support.
When the free trial period ends, you can continue to use Structural to configure workspaces. You can no longer generate data or train models. Contact Tonic.ai to discuss purchasing a Structural license, or select the option to start a Structural Cloud pay-as-you-go subscription.
Signing up for the free trial
To start a new free trial of Structural:
Go to app.tonic.ai.
Click Create Account.
On the Create your account dialog, to create an account, either:
To use a corporate Google email address to create the account, click Create account using Google.
To create a new Structural account, enter your email address, create and confirm a Structural password, then click Create Account. You cannot use a public email address for a free trial account.
Structural sends an activation link to your email address.
After you activate your account and log in, Structural next prompts you to select the use case that best matches why you are exploring Structural. If none of the provided use cases fits, use the Other option to tell us about your use case.
After you select a use case, click Next. The Create Your Workspace panel displays.
Determining whether to use your own data
When you sign up for a free trial, Structural automatically creates a sample PostgreSQL workspace that you can use to explore how to configure and run data generation.
You can also choose to create a workspace that uses your own data, either from local files or from a database.
On the Create your workspace panel:
To use the sample workspace, click Use a sample workspace, then click Next. Structural displays Privacy Hub, which summarizes the protection status for the source data. It also displays the Getting Started Guide panel and the quick start checklist.
To create a workspace that uses local files as the source data, click Upload Files, then click Next. Go to Uploading files.
To create a new workspace that uses your own data, click Bring your own data, then click Next. Go to Connecting to a database.
Uploading files
The Upload files option creates a local files file connector workspace. The source data consists of groups of files selected from a local file system. The files in a file group must have the same type and structure. Each file group becomes a "table" in the source data.
For other workspaces that you create during the free trial, you can also create a file connector workspace that uses files from cloud storage ( Amazon S3 or Google Cloud Storage).
After you select Upload files and click Next, you are prompted to provide a name for the workspace.
In the field provided, enter the name to use for the workspace, then click Next.
Structural displays the File Groups view, where you can set up the file groups for the workspace.
It also displays the Getting Started Guide panel with links to resources to help you get started.
After you create at least one file group, you can start to use the other Structural features and functions.
Connecting to a database
Provide a name for your workspace
If you choose to create a workspace with your own data, then the first step is to provide a name for the workspace.
In the field provided, enter the name to use for your first workspace, then click Next.
The Invite others to Tonic panel displays.
Invite other users to Structural and your workspace
Under Invite others to Tonic, you can optionally invite other users with the same corporate email domain to start their own Structural free trial. The users that you invite are able to view and edit your workspace.
For example, you might want to invite other users if you don't have access to the connection information for the source data. You can invite a user who does have access. They can then update the workspace configuration to add the connection details.
To continue without inviting other users, click Skip this step.
To invite users:
For each user to invite, enter the email address, then press Enter. The email addresses must have the same corporate email domain as your email address.
After you create the list of users to invite, click Next.
The Add source data connection view displays.
Supported databases for free trial workspaces
The final step in the workspace creation is to provide the source data to use for your workspace.
Structural provides data connectors that allow you to connect to an existing database. Each data connector allows you to connect to a specific type of database. Structural supports several types of application databases, data warehouses, and Spark data solutions.
For the first workspace that you create using the free trial wizard, you can choose:
For subsequent workspaces that you create from Workspaces view, you can also choose Databricks.
Selecting the database type
To connect to an existing database, on the Add source data connection panel, click the data connector to use, then click Add connection details.
The panel also includes a Local files option, which creates a local files file connector workspace, the same as the Upload files option.
Use the connection details fields to provide the connection information for your source data. The specific fields depend on the type of data connector that you select.
After you provide the connection details, to test the connection, click Test Connection.
To save your workspace, click Save.
Structural displays Privacy Hub, which summarizes the protection status for the source data.
It also displays the Getting Started Guide panel with links to resources to help you get started.
Free trial resources
The Structural free trial includes a couple of resources to introduce you to Structural and to guide you through the tasks for your first data generation.
Getting Started Guide panel
The Getting Started Guide panel provides access to Structural information and support resources.
The Getting Started Guide panel displays automatically when you first start the free trial. To display the Getting Started Guide panel manually, in the Structural heading, click Getting Started.
The Getting Started Guide panel provides links to Structural instructional videos and this Structural documentation. It also contains links to request a Structural demo, contact Tonic.ai support, and purchase a Structural Cloud pay-as-you-go subscription.
Quick start checklist
For each free trial workspace, Structural provides access to a workspace checklist.
The checklist displays at the bottom left of the workspace management view. It displays automatically when you display the workspace management view. To hide the checklist, click the minimize icon. To display the checklist again, click the checklist icon.
The checklist provides a basic list of tasks to perform in order to complete a Structural data generation.
Each checklist task is linked to the Structural location where you can complete that task. Structural automatically detects and marks when a task is completed.
The checklist tasks are slightly different based on the type of workspace.
Checklist for database-based workspaces
For workspaces that are connected to a database, including the sample PostgreSQL workspace and workspaces that you connect to your own data, the checklist contains:
Connect a source database - Set the connection to the source database. In most cases, you set the source connection when you create the workspace. When you click this step, Structural navigates to the Source Settings section of the workspace details view.
Connect to destination database - Set the location where Structural writes the transformed data. When you click this step, Structural navigates to the Destination Settings section of the workspace details view.
Apply generators to modify dataset - Configure how Structural transforms at least one column in the source data. When you click this step:
If there are available generator recommendations, then Structural navigates to Privacy Hub and displays the generator recommendations panel.
If there are no available generator recommendations, then Structural navigates to Database View.
Generate data - Run the data generation to produce the destination data. When you click this item, Structural navigates to the Confirm Generation panel.
Checklist for local file workspaces
For workspaces that use data from local files, the checklist contains:
Create a file group - Create a file group with files that you upload from a local file system. Each file group becomes a table in the workspace. When you click this step, Structural navigates to the File Groups view for the workspace.
Apply generators to modify dataset - Configure how Structural transforms at least one column in the source files. When you click this step:
If there are available generator recommendations, then Structural navigates to Privacy Hub and displays the generator recommendations panel.
If there are no available generator recommendations, then Structural navigates to Database View.
Generate data - Run the data generation to produce transformed versions of the source files. When you click this step, Structural navigates to the Confirm Generation panel.
Download your dataset - Download the transformed files from the Structural application database.
Checklist for cloud storage file workspaces
For workspaces that use data from files in cloud storage (Amazon S3 or Google Cloud Storage), the checklist contains:
Configure output location - Configure the cloud storage location where Structural writes the transformed files. When you click this step, Structural navigates to the Output location section of the workspace details view.
Create a file group - Create a file group that contains files selected from cloud storage. When you click this step, Structural navigates to the File Groups view for the workspace.
Apply generators to modify dataset - Configure how Structural transforms at least one column in the source data. When you click this step:
If there are available generator recommendations, then Structural navigates to Privacy Hub and displays the generator recommendations panel.
If there are no available generator recommendations, then Structural navigates to Database View.
Generate data - Run the data generation to produce transformed versions of the source files. When you click this step, Structural navigates to the Confirm Generation panel.
Next step hints
In addition to the workspace checklists, Structural uses next step hints to help guide you through the workspace configuration and data generation.
When a next step hint is available, it displays as an animated marker next to the suggested next action.
When you hover over the highlighted action, Structural displays a help text popup that explains the recommended action.
When you click the highlighted action, the hint is removed, and the next hint is displayed.
Creating a file group
For a file connector workspace, to identify the source data, you create file groups. A file group is a set of files of the same type and with the same structure. Each file group becomes a table in the workspace. For CSV files, each column becomes a table column. For XML and JSON file groups, the table contains a single XML or JSON column.
On the File Groups view, click Create File Group.
Uploading local files
For a file connector workspace that uses local files, you can either drag and drop files from your local file system to the file group, or you can search for and select files to add. For more information, go to #adding-files-from-a-local-file-system.
Selecting files from cloud storage
For a file connector workspace that uses cloud storage, you select the files to include in the file group. For more information, go to #adding-files-from-amazon-s3-or-gcs.
Configuring file delimiters and settings
For files that contain CSV content, you also configure the delimiters and other file settings. For more information, go to Configuring delimiters and file settings for .csv files.
Assigning a generator
To get value out of the data generation process, you assign generators to the data columns.
A generator indicates how to transform the data in a column. For example, for a column that contains a name value, you might assign the Name generator, which indicates how to generate a replacement name in the generation output.
Applying all recommendations
For sensitive columns that Structural detects, Structural can also provide a recommended generator configuration.
When there are recommendations available, Privacy Hub displays a link to review all of the recommendations.
The Recommended Generators by Sensitivity Type panel displays a list of sensitive columns that Structural detected, along with the suggested generators to apply.
After reviewing, to apply all of the suggested generators, click Apply All. For more information about using this panel, go to Reviewing and applying recommended generators.
Selecting a generator
You can also choose to apply an individual generator manually. You can do this from Privacy Hub, Database View, or Table View.
To display Database View, on the workspace management view, click Database View.
On Database View, in the column list, the Applied Generator column lists the currently assigned generator for each column. For a new workspace, the columns are all assigned the Passthrough generator. The Passthrough generator simply passes the source value through to the destination data without masking it.
Click a column that is marked as Passthrough. For example, in the sample workspace, the customers.Marital_Status column. The column configuration panel displays. To select a generator, click the generator dropdown. The list contains generators that can be assigned to the column based on the column data type. For customers.Marital_Status, the Categorical generator is a good option.
Assigning a recommended generator
For Passthrough columns that Structural identified as containing sensitive data, the column displays the type of sensitive data, such as a name, email address, or location.
In Database View, click one of those columns. For example, in the sample workspace, the customers.email column is marked as containing an email address.
For customers.Email, click the Email label. Instead of the column configuration panel, you see a panel that indicates the type of sensitive data and the recommended generator. For customers.Email, the recommended generator is Email. To assign the Email generator, click Apply recommendation. The column configuration panel displays with the generator assigned.
Configuring the destination location
To run a data generation, Structural must have a destination for the transformed data.
For a local files workspace, Structural saves the transformed files to the application databases.
For workspaces that use data from a database, and for workspaces that use cloud storage files, you configure where Structural writes the output data.
Available output options
Note that in non-free trial accounts, the Ephemeral option writes the output to an Ephemeral user snapshot instead of a database.
For more information about writing output to Ephemeral, go to Writing data generation output to a Tonic Ephemeral snapshot.
The other output options are:
For database-based data connectors, you can write the transformed data to a destination database.
For some Structural data connectors, Structural can write the transformed data to a data volume in a container repository.
For file connector workspaces that transform files from cloud storage (Amazon S3 or Google Cloud Storage), you configure the cloud storage location where Structural writes the transformed files.
Displaying the current destination configuration
To display the destination configuration for the workspace:
Click the Settings tab.
Scroll to the Destination Settings section or, for a file connector workspace that uses cloud storage files, scroll to the Output location section.
Confirming or changing the destination configuration
Ephemeral database
By default, the sample workspace, as well as any other PostgreSQL, MySQL, or SQL Server workspace, writes the transformed data to an Ephemeral database. The database expires after 48 hours. If you do not already have an Ephemeral account, then Structural creates an Ephemeral free trial account for you.
After you run data generation, Tonic provides the credentials that you need to connect to the database. If it created a new Ephemeral free trial account, then it also sends you an activation email message.
For this option, you do not need to change the workspace configuration.
You can also choose to write the transformed data either to a destination database or to a container repository.
Destination database
To write the data to a destination database, click Database Server. Structural displays the configuration fields for the destination database.
For information on how to configure the destination information for a specific data connector, go to the workspace configuration information for that data connector. The data connector summary contains a list of the available data connectors, and provides a link to the documentation for each data connector.
Container repository
To write the data to a data volume in a container repository, click Container Repository. Structural displays the configuration fields to select a base image and provide the details about the repository.
For more information, go to Writing data generation output to a container repository.
Cloud storage files output location
For a file connector workspace that uses files from cloud storage (Amazon S3 or Google Cloud Storage), you configure the cloud storage output location where Structural writes the transformed files. The configuration includes the required credentials to use.
For more information, go to Configuring the file connector storage type and output options.
Running data generation
After you complete the workspace and generator configuration, you can run your first data generation.
The data generation process uses the assigned generators to transform the source data. It writes the transformed data to the configured destination location.
For a local files workspace, it writes the files to the Structural application database.
Starting the generation
The Generate Data option is at the top right of the Tonic heading.
When you click Generate Data, Structural displays the Confirm Generation panel.
The Confirm Generation panel provides access to the current destination configuration, along with other advanced generation options such as subsetting and upsert. It also indicates if there are any issues that prevent you from starting the data generation. For example, if the workspace does not have a configured destination, then Structural cannot run the data generation.
To start the data generation, click Run Generation. For more information about running data generation, go to Running a data generation job.
For a new Tonic Ephemeral account, the first time that you run data generation, you also receive an activation email message for the account.
Viewing the job details and connecting to an Ephemeral database
To view the job status and details:
Click Job History.
In the list, click the data generation job.
For a data generation that writes the output to an Ephemeral database, the Data Available in Tonic Ephemeral panel provides access to the database connection information.
To display the connection details, click Connecting to your database.
The connection details include:
The database location and credentials. Each field contains a copy icon to allow you to copy the value.
SSH tunnel information, including instructions on how to create an SSH tunnel from your local machine to the Ephemeral database.
Next steps for free trial users
The first time that you complete all of the steps in a checklist, Structural displays a panel with options to chat with our sales team, schedule a demo, or purchase a subscription.
You can also continue to get to know Structural and experiment with other Structural features such as subsetting or using composite generators to mask more complex values such as JSON or XML.
If your free trial has expired, to get an extension, you can reach out to us using either the in-app chat or an email message.
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