RandomIPv4

The RandomIPv4 transformer is designed to populate specified database columns with random IPv4 addresses. This utility is essential for applications requiring the simulation of network data, testing systems that utilize IP addresses, or anonymizing real IP addresses in datasets.

Parameters

Name	Description	Default	Required	Supported DB types
column	The name of the column to be affected		Yes	text, varchar, inet
keep_null	Indicates whether NULL values should be preserved	false	No	-

Description

Utilizing a robust algorithm or library for generating IPv4 address strings, the RandomIPv4 transformer injects random IPv4 addresses into the designated database column. Each generated address follows the standard IPv4 format, consisting of four octets separated by dots (e. g., "192.168.1.1"), ensuring a wide range of plausible network addresses for various use cases.

Example: Populate random IPv4 addresses for the network_logs table

This example shows how to configure the RandomIPv4 transformer to populate the source_ip column in the network_logs table with random IPv4 addresses, simulating diverse network traffic sources for analysis or testing purposes.

RandomIPv4 transformer example

- schema: "public"
  name: "network_logs"
  transformers:
    - name: "RandomIPv4"
      params:
        column: "source_ip"
        keep_null: false

With this setup, the source_ip column will be updated with random IPv4 addresses for each entry, replacing any existing non-NULL values. If the keep_null parameter is set to true, it will ensure that existing NULL values in the column are preserved, accommodating scenarios where IP address data may be intentionally omitted.