Connect Self-Managed Kafka Connect to Confluent Cloud

If you want to run a connector not yet available in Confluent Cloud, you may run it yourself in a self-managed Kafka Connect cluster. This page shows you how to configure a local Connect cluster backed by a source Apache Kafka® cluster in Confluent Cloud.

Prerequisites

Tip

Want an easy way to get started?

  • On Confluent Cloud (https://confluent.cloud), select your environment and cluster, then go to Tools and client configuration > CLI Tools to get ready-made, cluster configuration files and a guided workflow, using Kafka commands to connect your local clients and applications to Confluent Cloud.
  • The UI takes you through local testing of your configurations using kafka-console-producer and kafka-console-consumer command line tools to send messages to topics and read them.
  • Also provided is an example of how to set up a Connect cluster from scratch.

Create the Topics in Cloud Cluster

You must manually create topics for source connectors to write to.

  1. Create a page_visits topic as follows:

    confluent kafka topic create --partitions 1 page_visits

Set up a local Connect Worker with Confluent Platform install

Download the latest ZIP or TAR distribution of Confluent Platform from https://www.confluent.io/download/. Follow the instructions based on whether you are using a Standalone Cluster or Distributed Cluster.

Replace <cloud-bootstrap-servers>, <api-key>, and <api-secret> with appropriate values from your Kafka cluster setup.

Important

Before getting started, review How to use Kafka Connect. Be sure to understand how to configure worker and connector configuration properties.

Standalone Cluster

  1. Create my-connect-standalone.properties in the config directory, whose contents look like the following (note the security configs with consumer.* and producer.* prefixes).

    bootstrap.servers=<cloud-bootstrap-servers>  # The converters specify the format of data in Kafka and how to translate it into Connect data. Every Connect user will # need to configure these based on the format they want their data in when loaded from or stored into Kafka key.converter=org.apache.kafka.connect.json.JsonConverter value.converter=org.apache.kafka.connect.json.JsonConverter # Converter-specific settings can be passed in by prefixing the Converter's setting with the converter you want to apply # it to key.converter.schemas.enable=false value.converter.schemas.enable=false  # The internal converter used for offsets and config data is configurable and must be specified, but most users will # always want to use the built-in default. Offset and config data is never visible outside of Kafka Connect in this format. internal.key.converter=org.apache.kafka.connect.json.JsonConverter internal.value.converter=org.apache.kafka.connect.json.JsonConverter internal.key.converter.schemas.enable=false internal.value.converter.schemas.enable=false  # Store offsets on local filesystem offset.storage.file.filename=/tmp/connect.offsets # Flush much faster than normal, which is useful for testing/debugging offset.flush.interval.ms=10000  ssl.endpoint.identification.algorithm=https sasl.mechanism=PLAIN sasl.jaas.config=org.apache.kafka.common.security.plain.PlainLoginModule required \ username="<api-key>" password="<api-secret>"; security.protocol=SASL_SSL  consumer.ssl.endpoint.identification.algorithm=https consumer.sasl.mechanism=PLAIN consumer.sasl.jaas.config=org.apache.kafka.common.security.plain.PlainLoginModule required \ username="<api-key>" password="<api-secret>"; consumer.security.protocol=SASL_SSL  producer.ssl.endpoint.identification.algorithm=https producer.sasl.mechanism=PLAIN producer.sasl.jaas.config=org.apache.kafka.common.security.plain.PlainLoginModule required \ username="<api-key>" password="<api-secret>"; producer.security.protocol=SASL_SSL  # Set to a list of filesystem paths separated by commas (,) to enable class loading isolation for plugins # (connectors, converters, transformations). plugin.path=/usr/share/java,/Users/<username>/confluent-6.2.1/share/confluent-hub-components

  2. (Optional) Add the configs to my-connect-standalone.properties to connect to Confluent Cloud Schema Registry per the example in connect-ccloud.delta on GitHub at ccloud/examples/template_delta_configs.

    # Confluent Schema Registry for Kafka Connect value.converter=io.confluent.connect.avro.AvroConverter value.converter.basic.auth.credentials.source=USER_INFO value.converter.schema.registry.basic.auth.user.info=<SCHEMA_REGISTRY_API_KEY>:<SCHEMA_REGISTRY_API_SECRET> value.converter.schema.registry.url=https://<SCHEMA_REGISTRY_ENDPOINT>

    In addition to the above settings shown in the referenced GitHub example, add these key and value converter configurations to provide valid credentials.

    "key.converter": "io.confluent.connect.avro.AvroConverter", "value.converter": "io.confluent.connect.avro.AvroConverter",  "key.converter.schema.registry.url": "${file:/data/confluent-cloud/server.properties:SCHEMA_REGISTRY_URL}", "key.converter.schema.registry.basic.auth.credentials.source":"USER_INFO", "key.converter.schema.registry.basic.auth.user.info": "${file:/data/confluent-cloud/server.properties:BASIC_AUTH_INFO}",  "value.converter.schema.registry.url": "${file:/data/confluent-cloud/server.properties:SCHEMA_REGISTRY_URL}", "value.converter.schema.registry.basic.auth.credentials.source":"USER_INFO", "value.converter.schema.registry.basic.auth.user.info": "${file:/data/confluent-cloud/server.properties:BASIC_AUTH_INFO}",

  3. Create my-file-sink.properties in the config directory, whose contents look like the following (note the security configs with consumer.* prefix):

    name=my-file-sink connector.class=org.apache.kafka.connect.file.FileStreamSinkConnector tasks.max=1 topics=page_visits file=my_file.txt

    Important

    You must include the following properties in the connector configuration if you are using a self-managed connector that requires an enterprise license.

    confluent.topic.bootstrap.servers=<cloud-bootstrap-servers> confluent.topic.sasl.jaas.config=org.apache.kafka.common.security.plain.PlainLoginModule \ required username="<CLUSTER_API_KEY>" password="<CLUSTER_API_SECRET>"; confluent.topic.security.protocol=SASL_SSL confluent.topic.sasl.mechanism=PLAIN

    Important

    You must include the following properties in the connector configuration if you are using a self-managed connector that uses Reporter to write response back to Kafka (for example, the Azure Functions Sink Connector for Confluent Platform or the Google Cloud Functions Sink Connector for Confluent Platform connector) .

    reporter.admin.bootstrap.servers=<cloud-bootstrap-servers> reporter.admin.sasl.jaas.config=org.apache.kafka.common.security.plain.PlainLoginModule \ required username="<CLUSTER_API_KEY>" password="<CLUSTER_API_SECRET>"; reporter.admin.security.protocol=SASL_SSL reporter.admin.sasl.mechanism=PLAIN  reporter.producer.bootstrap.servers=<cloud-bootstrap-servers> reporter.producer.sasl.jaas.config=org.apache.kafka.common.security.plain.PlainLoginModule \ required username="<CLUSTER_API_KEY>" password="<CLUSTER_API_SECRET>"; reporter.producer.security.protocol=SASL_SSL reporter.producer.sasl.mechanism=PLAIN

    Important

    You must include the following properties in the connector configuration if you are using the following connectors:

    "schema.history.internal.kafka.bootstrap.servers": "<cloud-bootstrap-servers>",  "schema.history.internal.consumer.security.protocol": "SASL_SSL", "schema.history.internal.consumer.ssl.endpoint.identification.algorithm": "https", "schema.history.internal.consumer.sasl.mechanism": "PLAIN", "schema.history.internal.consumer.sasl.jaas.config": "org.apache.kafka.common.security.plain.PlainLoginModule required username=\"<CLUSTER_API_KEY>\" password=\"<CLUSTER_API_KEY>\";",  "schema.history.internal.producer.security.protocol": "SASL_SSL", "schema.history.internal.producer.ssl.endpoint.identification.algorithm": "https", "schema.history.internal.producer.sasl.mechanism": "PLAIN", "schema.history.internal.producer.sasl.jaas.config": "org.apache.kafka.common.security.plain.PlainLoginModule required username=\"<CLUSTER_API_KEY>\" password=\"<CLUSTER_API_KEY>\";"

  4. Run the connect-standalone script with the filenames as arguments:

    ./bin/connect-standalone  ./etc/my-connect-standalone.properties ./etc/my-file-sink.properties

    This should start a connect worker on your machine which will consume the records produced earlier using the ccloud command. If you tail the contents of my_file.txt, it should resemble the following:

    tail -f my_file.txt {"field1": "hello", "field2": 1} {"field1": "hello", "field2": 2} {"field1": "hello", "field2": 3} {"field1": "hello", "field2": 4} {"field1": "hello", "field2": 5} {"field1": "hello", "field2": 6}

Distributed Cluster

  1. Create a distributed properties file named my-connect-distributed.properties in the config directory. The contents of this distributed properties file should resemble the following example. Note the security properties with consumer.* and producer.* prefixes.

    bootstrap.servers=<cloud-bootstrap-servers>  group.id=connect-cluster  key.converter=org.apache.kafka.connect.json.JsonConverter value.converter=org.apache.kafka.connect.json.JsonConverter key.converter.schemas.enable=false value.converter.schemas.enable=false  internal.key.converter=org.apache.kafka.connect.json.JsonConverter internal.value.converter=org.apache.kafka.connect.json.JsonConverter internal.key.converter.schemas.enable=false internal.value.converter.schemas.enable=false  # Connect clusters create three topics to manage offsets, configs, and status # information. Note that these contribute towards the total partition limit quota. offset.storage.topic=connect-offsets offset.storage.replication.factor=3 offset.storage.partitions=3  config.storage.topic=connect-configs config.storage.replication.factor=3  status.storage.topic=connect-status status.storage.replication.factor=3  offset.flush.interval.ms=10000  ssl.endpoint.identification.algorithm=https sasl.mechanism=PLAIN sasl.jaas.config=org.apache.kafka.common.security.plain.PlainLoginModule required \ username="<api-key>" password="<api-secret>"; security.protocol=SASL_SSL  consumer.ssl.endpoint.identification.algorithm=https consumer.sasl.mechanism=PLAIN consumer.sasl.jaas.config=org.apache.kafka.common.security.plain.PlainLoginModule required \ username="<api-key>" password="<api-secret>"; consumer.security.protocol=SASL_SSL  producer.ssl.endpoint.identification.algorithm=https producer.sasl.mechanism=PLAIN producer.sasl.jaas.config=org.apache.kafka.common.security.plain.PlainLoginModule required \ username="<api-key>" password="<api-secret>"; producer.security.protocol=SASL_SSL  # Set to a list of filesystem paths separated by commas (,) to enable class loading isolation for plugins # (connectors, converters, transformations). plugin.path=/usr/share/java,/Users/<username>/confluent-6.2.1/share/confluent-hub-components

  2. (Optional) Add the configuration properties below to the my-connect-distributed.properties file. This allows connections to Confluent Cloud Schema Registry. For an example, see connect-ccloud.delta on the ccloud/examples/template_delta_configs.

    # Confluent Schema Registry for Kafka Connect value.converter=io.confluent.connect.avro.AvroConverter value.converter.basic.auth.credentials.source=USER_INFO value.converter.schema.registry.basic.auth.user.info=<SCHEMA_REGISTRY_API_KEY>:<SCHEMA_REGISTRY_API_SECRET> value.converter.schema.registry.url=https://<SCHEMA_REGISTRY_ENDPOINT>

  3. Run Connect using the following command:

    ./bin/connect-distributed ./etc/my-connect-distributed.properties

    To test if the workers came up correctly, you can set up another file sink as follows. Create a file my-file-sink.json whose contents are as follows:

    {   "name": "my-file-sink",   "config": {     "connector.class": "org.apache.kafka.connect.file.FileStreamSinkConnector",     "tasks.max": 3,     "topics": "page_visits",     "file": "my_file.txt"   } }

    Important

    You must include the following properties in the connector configuration if you are using a self-managed connector that requires an enterprise license.

    "confluent.topic.bootstrap.servers":"<cloud-bootstrap-servers>", "confluent.topic.sasl.jaas.config": "org.apache.kafka.common.security.plain.PlainLoginModule required username=\"<CLUSTER_API_KEY>\" password=\"<CLUSTER_API_KEY>\";", "confluent.topic.security.protocol":"SASL_SSL", "confluent.topic.sasl.mechanism":"PLAIN"

    Important

    You must include the following configuration properties if you are using a self-managed connector that uses Reporter to write response back to Kafka (for example, the Azure Functions Sink Connector for Confluent Platform or the Google Cloud Functions Sink Connector for Confluent Platform connector) .

    "reporter.admin.bootstrap.servers":"<cloud-bootstrap-servers>", "reporter.admin.sasl.jaas.config": "org.apache.kafka.common.security.plain.PlainLoginModule required username=\"<CLUSTER_API_KEY>\" password=\"<CLUSTER_API_KEY>\";", "reporter.admin.security.protocol":"SASL_SSL", "reporter.admin.sasl.mechanism":"PLAIN",  "reporter.producer.bootstrap.servers":"<cloud-bootstrap-servers>", "reporter.producer.sasl.jaas.config": "org.apache.kafka.common.security.plain.PlainLoginModule required username=\"<CLUSTER_API_KEY>\" password=\"<CLUSTER_API_KEY>\";", "reporter.producer.security.protocol":"SASL_SSL", "reporter.producer.sasl.mechanism":"PLAIN"

    Important

    You must include the following properties in the connector configuration if you are using the following connectors:

    "schema.history.internal.kafka.bootstrap.servers": "<cloud-bootstrap-servers>",  "schema.history.internal.consumer.security.protocol": "SASL_SSL", "schema.history.internal.consumer.ssl.endpoint.identification.algorithm": "https", "schema.history.internal.consumer.sasl.mechanism": "PLAIN", "schema.history.internal.consumer.sasl.jaas.config": "org.apache.kafka.common.security.plain.PlainLoginModule required username=\"<CLUSTER_API_KEY>\" password=\"<CLUSTER_API_KEY>\";",  "schema.history.internal.producer.security.protocol": "SASL_SSL", "schema.history.internal.producer.ssl.endpoint.identification.algorithm": "https", "schema.history.internal.producer.sasl.mechanism": "PLAIN", "schema.history.internal.producer.sasl.jaas.config": "org.apache.kafka.common.security.plain.PlainLoginModule required username=\"<CLUSTER_API_KEY>\" password=\"<CLUSTER_API_KEY>\";"

  4. Post this connector config to the worker using the curl command:

    curl -s -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST -d @my-file-sink.json http://localhost:8083/connectors/ | jq .

    This should give the following response:

    {   "name": "my-file-sink",   "config": {     "connector.class": "org.apache.kafka.connect.file.FileStreamSinkConnector",     "tasks.max": "1",     "topics": "page_visits",     "file": "my_file",     "name": "my-file-sink"   },   "tasks": [],   "type": null }

  5. Produce some records using Confluent Cloud and tail this file to check if the connectors were successfully created.

Connect to Confluent Cloud Schema Registry

(Optional) To connect to Confluent Cloud Schema Registry, add the configs per the example in connect-ccloud.delta on GitHub at ccloud/examples/template_delta_configs.

# Confluent Schema Registry for Kafka Connect value.converter=io.confluent.connect.avro.AvroConverter value.converter.basic.auth.credentials.source=USER_INFO value.converter.schema.registry.basic.auth.user.info=<SCHEMA_REGISTRY_API_KEY>:<SCHEMA_REGISTRY_API_SECRET> value.converter.schema.registry.url=https://<SCHEMA_REGISTRY_ENDPOINT>

Set up a local Connect Worker with Docker

You can run a mix of fully-managed services in Confluent Cloud and self-managed components running in Docker. For a Docker environment that connects any Confluent Platform component to Confluent Cloud, see cp-all-in-one-cloud.

To run your own connector, which is not provided in the base Docker Connect image, you can modify the Docker image to install the connector’s JAR files from Confluent Hub. For more information, see Add Connectors or Software.

See also

For demos and testing, leverage Confluent Cloud utilities that create a full ccloud-stack and generate required configurations for Confluent Platform components to connect to your Confluent Cloud. Refer to Confluent Cloud Demos for details.

Additional Resources