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Connect your Kafka
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Connect your Kafka

Introduction

In this guide, you will explore how to connect to your own Kafka from Zilla.
A brief explanation of replaceable values from the config examples below:
Value
Description
TRUSTORE_PATH
The path to the truststore that stores CA cert that you want to trust.
TRUSTORE_PASSWORD
Truststore password.
KEYSTORE_PATH
The path to the keystore that stores access key.
KEYSTORE_PASSWORD
Keystore password.
STORE_TYPE
KeyStore type such as pkcs12, jceks, and etc
CA_CERT_ALIES
Unique string that identifies the certificate entry in the truststore.
SIGNED_CLIENT_CERT_ALIES
A unique string that identifies the key cert entry chain in the keystore.
BOOTSTRAP_SERVER_HOSTNAME
Target Kafka hostname.
BOOTSTRAP_SERVER_PORT
Target Kafka port number.
SASL_USERNAME
SASL authorization username.
SASL_PASSWORD
SASL authorization password.

Connect to PLAINTEXT Kafka

To connect to any Kafka on PLAINTEXT protocol is as simple as defining your TCP binding as shown below.
zilla.json
{
"bindings":
{
...
"kafka_client0":
{
"type" : "kafka",
"kind": "client",
"exit": "tcp_client0"
},
"tcp_client0":
{
"type" : "tcp",
"kind": "client",
"options":
{
"host": "BOOTSTRAP_SERVER_HOSTNAME",
"port": BOOTSTRAP_SERVER_PORT
},
"routes":
[
{
"when":
[
{
"cidr": "0.0.0.0/0"
}
]
}
]
}
}
}
As usual, you need to define the host and port and flush the data to the network. For the full working config please take a look at this example.

Connect to Kafka over TLS/SSL

By default, Kafka communicates in PLAINTEXT, which means that all data is sent without encryption. However, Kafka running in production needs to expose only a secure connection that encrypts communication, and you should therefore configure Zilla to use TLS/SSL encrypted communication.
If the Kafka cluster is secured by a TLS server certificate that is provided by a public certificate authority, then configure Zilla add a TLS client binding as shown below with the trustcacerts option to set to true.
The exit from kafka_client0 binding now changes to tls_client0.
zilla.json
{
"bindings":
{
...
"kafka_client0":
{
"type" : "kafka",
"kind": "client",
"exit": "tls_client0"
},
"tls_client0":
{
"type" : "tls",
"kind": "client",
"options":
{
"trustcacerts": true
"sni": ["BOOTSTRAP_SERVER_HOSTNAME"]
},
"exit": "tcp_client0"
},
"tcp_client0":
{
"type" : "tcp",
"kind": "client",
"options":
{
"host": "BOOTSTRAP_SERVER_HOSTNAME",
"port": BOOTSTRAP_SERVER_PORT
},
"routes":
[
{
"when":
[
{
"cidr": "0.0.0.0/0"
}
]
}
]
}
}
}
However, if the Kafka cluster is secured by a TLS server certificate that is signed by a private certificate authority then you need to add a vault config to provide access to certificates needed by the TLS client binding.
zilla.json
{
"vaults":
{
"client_vault":
{
"type": "filesystem",
"options":
{
"trust":
{
"store": "TRUSTORE_PATH",
"type": "STORE_TYPE",
"password": "TRUSTORE_PASSWORD"
}
}
}
},
"bindings":
{
...
"kafka_client0":
{
"type" : "kafka",
"kind": "client",
"exit": "tls_client0"
},
"tls_client0":
{
"type" : "tls",
"kind": "client",
"vault": "client_vault",
"options":
{
"trust": ["CA_CERT_ALIAS"],
"sni": ["BOOTSTRAP_SERVER_HOSTNAME"]
},
"exit": "tcp_client0"
},
"tcp_client0":
{
"type" : "tcp",
"kind": "client",
"options":
{
"host": "BOOTSTRAP_SERVER_HOSTNAME",
"port": BOOTSTRAP_SERVER_PORT
},
"routes":
[
{
"when":
[
{
"cidr": "0.0.0.0/0"
}
]
}
]
}
}
}

Connect to Kafka over TLS/SSL using client certificates

Next, you will explore how to connect to Kafka cluster over TLS/SSL using client certificates.
The following items need to be prepared:
  • truststore.p12 - contains the trusted server certificates or certificate authorities
  • keystore.p12 - contains the signed client certificates
Kafka clients connecting to Kafka clusters that are configured for TLS mutual authentication require three files; a Client Key, a Client Certificate, and a CA Certificate.
You can use the scripts shown below to generate truststore.p12 and keystore.p12 files using the three files.
truststore.p12
keytool -import -file ca.pem -alias YOUR_KAFKA_SIGNED_CLIENT_CERT_ALIAS \
-keystore truststore.p12
keystore.p12
openssl pkcs12 -export -in service.cert -inkey service.key \ 130 ↵ ──(Tue,May31)─┘
-out keystore.p12 -name YOUR_KAFKA_CA_CERT_ALIAS \
-CAfile ca.pem
You also need to configure a vault with truststore and keystore, then reference the vault in the tls_client0 binding.
zilla.json
{
"vaults":
{
"client_vault":
{
"type": "filesystem",
"options":
{
"trust":
{
"store": "TRUSTORE_PATH",
"type": "STORE_TYPE",
"password": "TRUSTORE_PASSWORD"
},
"keys":
{
"store": "KEYSTORE_PATH",
"type": "STORE_TYPE",
"password": "KEYSTORE_PASSWORD"
}
}
}
},
"bindings":
{
...
"kafka_client0":
{
"type" : "kafka",
"kind": "client",
"exit": "tls_client0"
},
"tls_client0":
{
"type" : "tls",
"kind": "client",
"vault": "client_vault",
"options":
{
"trust": ["CA_CERT_ALIAS"],
"keys": ["SIGNED_CLIENT_CERT_ALIAS"],
"sni": ["BOOTSTRAP_SERVER_HOSTNAME"]
},
"exit": "tcp_client0"
},
"tcp_client0":
{
"type" : "tcp",
"kind": "client",
"options":
{
"host": "BOOTSTRAP_SERVER_HOSTNAME",
"port": BOOTSTRAP_SERVER_PORT
},
"routes":
[
{
"when":
[
{
"cidr": "0.0.0.0/0"
}
]
}
]
}
}
}
SNI adds the domain name to the TLS handshake process so that the Zilla process reaches the right domain name and receives the correct SSL certificate.

Connect to Kafka over SASL

Apache Kafka brokers support client authentication using SASL. SASL authentication can be enabled concurrently with TLS/SSL encryption.
Apache Kafka supports the following SASL mechanisms are:
  • GSSAPI (Kerberos authentication)
  • OAUTHBEARER
  • SCRAM
  • PLAIN
  • Delegation Tokens
  • LDAP
Zilla currently supports SASL PLAIN authentication to Kafka.
Please add your feedback to the SASL enhancement request.
Let's configure zilla.json.
zilla.json
{
"bindings":
{
...
"kafka_client0":
{
"type" : "kafka",
"kind": "client",
"exit": "tls_client0",
"options":
{
"sasl":
{
"mechanism": "plain",
"username": "SASL_USERNAME",
"password": "SASL_PASSWORD"
}
}
},
"tls_client0":
{
"type" : "tls",
"kind": "client",
"options":
{
"trustcacerts": true
"sni": ["BOOTSTRAP_SERVER_HOSTNAME"]
},
"exit": "tcp_client0"
},
"tcp_client0":
{
"type" : "tcp",
"kind": "client",
"options":
{
"host": "BOOTSTRAP_SERVER_HOSTNAME",
"port": BOOTSTRAP_SERVER_PORT
},
"routes":
[
{
"when":
[
{
"cidr": "0.0.0.0/0"
}
]
}
]
}
}
}
To test the above config you can follow instructions in the README from the example.
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Outline
Introduction
Connect to PLAINTEXT Kafka
Connect to Kafka over TLS/SSL
Connect to Kafka over TLS/SSL using client certificates
Connect to Kafka over SASL