- Lightstreamer Kafka Connector
- Introduction
- Features
- Quick Start
- Installation
- Configuration
- Global Settings
- Connection Settings
- General Parameters
- Record Evaluation
- Encryption Parameters
encryption.enable
encryption.protocol
encryption.enabled.protocols
encryption.cipher.suites
encryption.truststore.path
encryption.truststore.password
encryption.truststore.type
encryption.hostname.verification.enable
encryption.keystore.enable
encryption.keystore.path
encryption.keystore.password
encryption.keystore.key.password
encryption.keystore.type
- Complete Encryption Configuration Example
- Broker Authentication Parameters
- Schema Registry
- Topic Mapping
- Metadata Adapter Customization
The Lightstreamer Kafka Connector is a ready-made pluggable Lighstreamer Adapter that enables event streaming from a Kafka broker to the internet.
[Insert Diagram here]
With Kafka Connector, any internet client connected to the Lightstreamer Server can consume events from Kafka topics like any other Kafka client. The Connector takes care of processing records received from Kafka to adapt and route them as real-time updates for the clients.
The Kafka Connector allows to move high volume data out of Kafka by leveraging the battle-tested ability of the Lightstreamer real-time engine to deliver live data reliably and efficiently over internet protocols.
[...] TO TDO
To rapidly showcase the functioning of the Lighstreamer Kafka Connector, the examples/quickstart
folder hosts all the stuff required to set up a quickstart app to display real-time market data received from Lightstreamer Server. The app is a modified version of the Stock List demo.
As you can see from the diagram above, in this variant the stream of simulated market events is injected from Kafka to the web client through the Ligthstreamer Kafka Connector.
To provide a complete stack, the app is based on Docker Compose. The Docker Compose file comprises the following services:
- broker, a Kafka broker, based on the Confluent Local Docker Image.
- kafka-connector, Lighstreamer Server with Kafka Connector, based on the Lightstreamer Kafka Connector Docker image example. The service also includes the web client, mounted on
/lightstreamer/pages/QuickStart
. - producer, a native Kafka Producer, based on the provided Dockerfile.producer file and kafka-connector-samples submodule of this repository.
To run the app:
-
Make sure you have Docker, Docker Compose, and Java 17 (or later) installed on your local machine.
-
From the
examples/quickstart
folder, run the command:./start.sh ... ⠏ Network quickstart_default Created ✔ Container broker Started ✔ Container producer Started ✔ Container kafka-connector Started ... Service started. Now you can point your browser to http://localhost:8080/QuickStart to see real-time data. ...
-
Once all containers are ready, point your browser to http://localhost:8080/QuickStart.
After a few moments, the user interface starts displaying the real-time stock data.
-
To shutdown Docker Compose and clean up all temporary resources:
./stop.sh
This section will guide you through the installation of the Lightstreamer Kafka Connector to get it up and running in a very short time.
- JDK version 17 or later.
- Lightstreamer Server version 7.4.2 or later (check the
LS_HOME/GETTING_STARTED.TXT
file for the instructions). - A running Kafka broker or Kafka Cluster.
Get the deployment package from the latest release page. Alternatively, check out this repository and run the following command from the project root;
./gradlew distribuite
which generates the lightstreamer-kafka-connector-<version>.zip
bundle under the deploy
folder.
Then, unzip it into the adapters
folder of the Lightstreamer Server installation.
Check that the final Lightstreamer layout looks like the following:
LS_HOME/
...
├── adapters
│ ├── lightstreamer-kafka-connector-<version>
│ │ ├── README.md
│ │ ├── adapters.xml
│ │ ├── log4j.properties
│ │ ├── lib
│ └── welcome_res
...
├── audit
├── bin
...
Before starting the Kafka Connector, you need to properly configure the LS_HOME/adapters/lightstreamer-kafka-connector/adapters.xml
file. For convenience, the package comes with a predefined configuration (the same used in the Quick Start app), which can be customized in all its aspects as per your requirements. Obviously, you may add as many different connection configurations as desired to fit your needs.
To quickly complete the installation and verify the successful integration with Kafka, edit the data_provider block QuickStart
in the file as follows:
-
Update the
bootstrap.servers
parameter with the connection string of Kafka.<param name="bootstrap.servers">kafka.connection.string</param>
-
Optionally customize the
LS_HOME/adapters/lightstreamer-kafka-connectors/log4j.properties
file (the current settings produce the additionalquickstart.log
file).
You can get more details about all possible settings in the Configuration section.
If your target Kafka cluster is Confluent Cloud, you also need to properly configure TLS 1.2
encryption and SASL_PLAIN
authentication, as follows:
<param name="encryption.enable">true</param>
<param name="encryption.protocol">TLSv1.2</param>
<param name="encryption.hostname.verification.enable">true</param>
<param name="authentication.enable">true</param>
<param name="authentication.mechanism">PLAIN</param>
<param name="authentication.username">API.key</param>
<param name="authentication.password">secret</param>
...
where you have to replace API.key
and secret
with the API Key and secret generated on the Confluent CLI or from the Confluent Cloud Console.
-
Launch Lightstreamer Server.
-
Attach a Lightstreamer Consumer.
The
kafka-connector-samples
submodule hosts a simple Lightstreamer Java client that can be used to test the consumption of Kafka events from any Kafka topics.Since a generic Ligthstreamer client needs to subscribe to one or more items to receive real-time updates, the Kafka Connector has to offer proper support to realize a mapping between Kafka topics and Lighstreamer items.
The
QuickStart
factory configuration comes with a simple mapping through the following settings:-
An item template
<param name="item-template.stock">stock-#{index=KEY}</param>
which defines the general format name of the items a client must subscribe to to receive updates from the Kafka Connector. The optional Bindable Selector Keys syntax used here, denoted within
#{...}
, can bind every part of a Kafka Record to a variable set of input parameters. In this case, the input parameterindex
is bound to theKEY
predefined constant, which extracts the key part of Kafka records. -
A topic mapping
<param name="map.stocks.to">item-template.stock</param>
which maps the topic
stocks
to the item names.
This configuration instructs the Kafka Connector to analyze every single event published to the topic
stocks
and check if it matches against any item subscribed by the client as:stock
, the itemstock
.stock-[index=1]
, an item with the parameterindex
bound to a record key equal to1
.stock-[index=2]
, an item with the parameterindex
bound to a record key equal to2
.- ...
stock-[index=<any record key>]
The Kafka Connector will then route the event to any matched item.
In addition, the following section defines how the record is mapped to the tabular form of Lightstreamer fields, by using an intuitive set of Selector Keys (denoted with
#{..}
) through which each part of a Kafka Record can be extracted. In this case, the VALUE predefined constant extracts the value part of Kakfa records.<param name="field.stock_name">#{VALUE.name}</param> <param name="field.last_price">#{VALUE.last_price}</param> <param name="field.ask">#{VALUE.ask}</param> <param name="field.ask_quantity">#{VALUE.ask_quantity}</param> <param name="field.bid">#{VALUE.bid}</param> <param name="field.bid_quantity">#{VALUE.bid_quantity}</param> <param name="field.pct_change">#{VALUE.pct_change}</param> <param name="field.min">#{VALUE.min}</param> <param name="field.max">#{VALUE.max}</param> <param name="field.ref_price">#{VALUE.ref_price}</param> <param name="field.open_price">#{VALUE.open_price}</param> <param name="field.item_status">#{VALUE.item_status}</param>
This way, the routed event is transformed into a flat structure, which can be forwarded to the clients.
Before launching the consumer, you first need to build it with the command:
./gradlew distribuiteConsumer
which generates the
lightstreamer-kafka-connector-samples-consumer-all-<version>.jar
under thedeploy
folder.Then, launch it with:
java -jar deploy/lightstreamer-kafka-connector-samples-consumer-all-<version>.jar --address http://localhost:8080 --adapter-set KafkaConnector --data-adapter QuickStart --items stock-[index=1] --fields ask,bid,min,max
As you can see, you have to specify a few parameters:
--address
, the Lightstreamer Server address.--adapter-set
, the name of the requested Adapter Set, which triggers Ligthtreamer to activate the Kafka Connector deployed into theadapters
folder.--data-adapter
, the name of the requested Data Adapter, which identifies the selected Kafka connection configuration.--items
, the list of items to subscribe to.--fields
, the list of requested fields for the items.
NOTE: As the Lightstreamer Kafka Connector is built around the Lightreamer Java In-Process Adapter SDK, every remote client based on any Lightstreamer Client SDK can therefore interact with it.
-
-
Publish Events.
The
kafka-connector-samples
submodule hosts a simple Kafka producer to publish simulated market events for the QuickStart app.Before launching the producer, you first need to build it. Open a new shell and execute the command:
./gradlew distribuiteProducer
which generates the
lightstreamer-kafka-connector-samples-producer-all-<version>.jar
under thedeploy
folder.Then, launch it with:
java -jar deploy/lightstreamer-kafka-connector-samples-producer-all-<version>.jar --bootstrap-servers <kafka.connection.string> --topic stocks
If your target Kafka cluster is Confluent Cloud, you also need to provide a properties file that includes encryption and authentication settings, as follows:
security.protocol=SASL_SSL sasl.jaas.config=org.apache.kafka.common.security.plain.PlainLoginModule required username='API.key' password='secret'; sasl.mechanism=PLAIN ...
where you have to replace
API.key
andsecret
with the API Key and secret generated on the Confluent CLI or from the Confluent Cloud Console.java -jar deploy/lightstreamer-kafka-connector-samples-producer-all-<version>.jar --bootstrap-servers <kafka.connection.string> --topic stocks --config-file <path/to/config/file>
-
Check Consumed Events.
After starting the publisher, you should immediately see the real-time updates flowing from the consumer shell:
As already anticipated, the Lightstreamer Kafka Connector is a Lightstreamer Adapter Set, which means it is made up of a Metadata Adapter and one or more Data Adapters, whose settings are defined in the LS_HOME/adapters/lightstreamer-kafka-connector/adapters.xml
file.
The following sections will guide you through the configuration details.
Mandatory. The id
attribute of the adapters_conf
root tag defines the Kafka Connector identifier, which will be used by the Clients to request this Adapter Set while setting up the connection to a Lighstreamer Server through a LightstreamerClient object.
The factory value is set to KafkaConnector
for convenience, but you are free to change it as per your requirements.
Example:
<adapters_conf id="KafkaConnector">
Mandatory. The adapter_class
tag, specified inside the metadata_provider
block, defines the Java class name of the Metadata Adapter.
The factory value is set to com.lightstreamer.kafka_connector.adapters.ConnectorMetadataAdapter
, which implements the Kafka Connector logic.
It is possible to provide a custom implementation by extending the KafakConnectorMetadataAdapter
class: just package your new class in a jar file and deploy it along with all required dependencies into the LS_HOME/adapters/lightstreamer-kafka-connector/lib
folder.
See the Metadata Adapter Customization section for more details.
Example:
...
<metadata_provider>
...
<adapter_class>your.custom.class</adapter_class>
...
</metadata_provider>
...
Mandatory. The path of the reload4j configuration file, relative to the deployment folder (LS_HOME/adapters/lightstreamer-kafka-connector
).
The parameter is specified inside the metadata_provider
block.
The factory value points to the predefined file LS_HOME/adapters/lightstreamer-kafka-connector/log4g.properties
.
Example:
...
<metadata_provider>
...
<param name="logging.configuration.path">log4j.properties</param>
...
</metadata_provider>
...
The Lightstreamer Kafka Connector allows the configuration of separate independent connections to different Kafka clusters.
Every single connection is configured via the definition of its own Data Adapter through the data_provider
block. At least one connection must be provided.
Since the Kafka Connector manages the physical connection to Kafka by wrapping an internal Kafka Consumer, many configuration settings in the Data Adapter are identical to those required by the usual Kafka Consumer configuration.
Optional. The name
attribute of the data_provider
tag defines Kafka Connection Name, which will be used by the Clients to request real-time data from this specific Kafka connection through a Subscription object.
The connection name is also used to group all logging messages belonging to the same connection
Example:
<data_provider name="BrokerConnection">
Default value: DEFAULT
, but only one DEFAULT
configuration is permitted.
Optional. Enable this connection configuration. Can be one of the following:
true
false
Default value: true
.
If disabled, Lightstreamer Server will automatically deny every subscription made to this connection.
Example:
<param name="enable">false</param>
Mandatory. The Kafka Cluster bootstrap server endpoint expressed as the list of host/port pairs used to establish the initial connection.
The parameter sets the value of the bootstrap.servers
key to configure the internal Kafka Consumer.
Example:
<param name="bootstrap.servers">broker:29092,broker:29093</param>
Optional. The name of the consumer group this connection belongs to.
The parameter sets the value for the group.id
key to configure the internal Kafka Consumer.
Default value: KafkaConnector Identifier + Connection Name + Randomly generated suffix.
<param name="group.id">kafka-connector-group</param>
The Lightstreamer Kafka Connector offers wide support for deserializing Kafka records. Currently, it allows the following formats:
- String
- Avro
- JSON
In particular, the Kafka Connector supports message validation for Avro and JSON, which can be specified through:
- Local schema files.
- The Confluent Schema Registry.
Kafka Connector supports independent deserialization of keys and values, which means that:
- Key and value can have different formats.
- Message validation against the Confluent Schema Registry can be enabled separately for the Kafka key and Kafka value (through
key.evaluator.schema.registry.enable
andvalue.evaluator.schema.registry.enable
). - Message validation against local schema files must be specified separately for key and value (through the
key.evaluator.schema.path
andvalue.evaluator.schema.path
)
NOTE For Avro, schema validation is required, therefore either a local schema file must be provided or the Confluent Schema Registry must be enabled.
In case of a validation failure, the Connector can react by ...
Optional. The error handling strategy to be used if an error occurs while extracting data from incoming records. Can be one of the following:
IGNORE_AND_CONTINUE
, ignore the error and continue to process the next record.FORCE_UNSUBSCRIPTION
, stop processing records and force unsubscription of the items requested by all the Clients subscribed to this connection.
Default value: IGNORE_AND_CONTINUE
.
Example:
<param name="record.extraction.error.strategy">FORCE_UNSUBSCRIPTION</param>
Optional. The format to be used to deserialize respectively the key and value of a Kafka record. Can be one of the following:
AVRO
JSON
STRING
INTEGER
BOOLEAN
BYTE_ARRAY
BYTE_BUFFER
BYTES
DOUBLE
FLOAT
LONG
SHORT
UUID
Default value: STRING
Examples:
<param name="key.evaluator.type">INTEGER</param>
<param name="value.evaluator.type">JSON</param>
The path of the local schema file for message validation respectively of the Kafka key and the Kafa value.
<param name="key.evaluator.schema.path">schema/record_key.json</param>
<param name="value.evaluator.schema.path">schemas/record_value.json</param>
Enable the use of the Confluent Schema Registry for message validation respectively of the Kafka key and the Kafa value.
Default value: false
Example:
<param name="key.evaluator.schema.registry.enable">true</param>
<param name="value.evaluator.schema.registry.enable">true</param>
A TCP secure connection to the Kafka cluster is configured through parameters with the encryption
prefix.
Optional. Enable encryption of this connection. Can be one of the following:
true
false
Default value: false
.
Example:
<param name="encryption.enable">true</param>
Optional. The SSL protocol to be used. Can be one of the following:
TLSv1.2
TLSv1.3
Default value: TLSv1.3
when running on Java 11 or newer, TLSv1.2
otherwise.
Example:
<param name="encryption.protocol">TLSv1.2</param>
Optional. The list of enabled secure communication protocols.
Default value: TLSv1.2,TLSv1.3
when running on Java 11 or newer, TLSv1.2
otherwise.
Example:
<param name="encryption.enabled.protocols">TLSv1.3</param>
Optional. The list of enabled secure cipher suites.
Default value: all the available cipher suites in the running JVM.
Example:
<param name="encryption.cipher.suites">TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA</param>
Optional. The path of the trust store file, relative to the deployment folder (LS_HOME/adapters/lightstreamer-kafka-connector
).
Example:
<param name="encryption.truststore.path">secrets/kafka.connector.truststore.jks</param>
Optional. The password of the trust store.
If not set, checking the integrity of the trust store file configured will not be possible.
Example:
<param name="encryption.truststore.password">truststore-password</param>
Optional. The type of the trust store. Can be one of the following:
JKS
PKCS12
Default: JKS
Example:
<param name="encryption.truststore.type">PKCS12</param>
Optional. Enable hostname verification. Can be one of the following:
true
false
Default value: false
.
Example:
<param name="encryption.hostname.verification.enable">true</param>
Optional. Enable a key store. Can be one of the following:
true
false
If enabled, the following parameters configure the key store settings:
encryption.keystore.path
encryption.keystore.password
encryption.keystore.type
encryption.keystore.key.password
Default value: false
.
Example:
<param name="encryption.keystore.enable">true</param>
(Mandatory if key store is enabled) The path of the key store file, relative to the deployment folder (LS_HOME/adapters/lightstreamer-kafka-connector
).
Example:
<param name="encryption.keystore.path">secrets/kafka.connector.keystore.jks</param>
Optional. The password of the key store.
If not set, checking the integrity of the key store file configured will not be possible.
Example:
<param name="encryption.keystore.password">keystore-password</param>
Optional. The password of the private key in the key store file.
Example:
<param name="encryption.keystore.key.password">private-key-password</param>
Optional. The type of the key store. Can be one of the following:
JKS
PKCS12
Default value: JKS
.
Example:
<param name="encryption.keystore.type">PKCS12</param>
The following is a complete example of how to configure encryption through the above parameters.
...
<!-- Enable encryption -->
<param name="encryption.enable">true</param>
<!-- Set general encryption settings -->
<param name="encryption.protocol">TLSv1.2</param>
<param name="encryption.enabled.protocols">TLSv1.2</param>
<param name="encryption.cipher.suites">TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA</param>
<param name="encryption.hostname.verification.enable">true</param>
<!-- If required, configure the trust store to trust the Kafka Cluster certificates -->
<param name="encryption.truststore.type">JKS</param>
<param name="encryption.truststore.path">secrets/kafka.connector.truststore.pkcs12</param></param>
<!-- If mutual TLS is enabled on the Kafka Cluster, enable and configure the key store -->
<param name="encryption.keystore.enable">true</param>
<param name="encryption.keystore.type">PKCS12</param>
<param name="encryption.keystore.path">secrets/kafka.connector.encryption.keystore.pkcs12</param>
<param name="encryption.keystore.password">schemaregistry-keystore-password</param>
<param name="encryption.keystore.key.password">schemaregistry-private-key-password</param>
...
Broker authentication is configured by parameters with the authentication
prefix.
Optional. Enable the authentication of this connection against the Kafka Cluster. Can be one of the following:
true
false
Default value: false
.
Example:
<param name="authentication.enable">true</param>
Mandatory if authentication is enabled. The SASL mechanism type. The Lightstreamer Kafka Connector supports the following authentication mechanisms:
PLAIN
(the default value)SCRAM-256
SCRAM-512
GSSAPI
In the case of PLAIN
, SCRAM-256
, and SCRAM-512
mechanisms, the credentials must be configured through the following mandatory parameters (which are not allowed for GSSAPI
):
authentication.username
, the username.authentication.password
, the password.
Example:
<param name="authentication.enable">true</param>
<param name="authentication.mechanism">PLAIN</param>
<param name="authentication.username">authorized-kafka-user</param>
<param name="authentication.password">authorized-kafka-user-password</param>
Example:
<param name="authentication.enable">true</param>
<param name="authentication.mechanism">SCRAM-256</param>
<param name="authentication.username">authorized-kafka-usee</param>
<param name="authentication.password">authorized-kafka-user-password</param>
Example:
<param name="authentication.enable">true</param>
<param name="authentication.mechanism">SCRAM-512</param>
<param name="authentication.username">authorized-kafka-username</param>
<param name="authentication.password">authorized-kafka-username-password</param>
In the case of GSSAPI
, the following parameters will be part of the authentication configuration:
-
authentication.gssapi.key.tab.enable
Optional. Enable the use of a keytab.
Default value:
false
. -
authentication.gssapi.key.tab.path
Mandatory if key tab is enabled_. The path to the kaytab file, relative to the deployment folder (
LS_HOME/adapters/lightstreamer-kafka-connector
). -
authentication.gssapi.store.key.enable
Optional. Enable storage of the principal key.
Default value:
false
. -
authentication.gssapi.kerberos.service.name
Mandatory. The name of the Kerberos service.
-
authentication.gssapi.principal
_Mandatory if ticket cache is disabled. The name of the principal to be used.
-
authentication.gssapi.ticket.cache.enable
Optional. Enable the use of a ticket cache.
Default value:
false
.
Example:
...
<param name="authentication.enable">true</param>
<param name="authentication.mechanism">GSSAPI</param>
<param name="authentication.gssapi.key.tab.enable">true</param>
<param name="authentication.gssapi.key.tab.path">gssapi/kafka-connector.keytab</param>
<param name="authentication.gssapi.store.key.enable">true</param>
<param name="authentication.gssapi.kerberos.service.name">kafka</param>
<param name="authentication.gssapi.principal">[email protected]</param>
...
Example of configuration with the use of a ticket cache:
<param name="authentication.enable">true</param>
<param name="authentication.mechanism">GSSAPI</param>
<param name="authentication.gssapi.kerberos.service.name">kafka</param>
<param name="authentication.gssapi.ticket.cache.enable">true</param>
...
Mandatory. The URL of the Confluent schema registry. An encrypted connection is enabled by specifying the https
protocol.
Example of a plain http url:
<!-- Use https to enable secure connection to the registry
<param name="schema.registry.url">https://localhost:8081</param>
-->
<param name="schema.registry.url">http//localhost:8081</param>
A secure connection to the Confluent Schema Registry can be configured through parameters with the schema.registry.encryption
prefix, each one having the same meaning as the analogous parameter defined in the Encryption Parameters section:
schema.registry.encryption.protocol
(see encryption.protocol)schema.registry.encryption.enabled.protocols
(see encryption.enabled.protocols)schema.registry.encryption.cipher.suites
(see encryption.cipher.suites)schema.registry.encryption.truststore.path
(see encryption.truststore.path)schema.registry.encryption.truststore.password
(see encryption.truststore.password)schema.registry.encryption.truststore.type
(see encryption.truststore.type)schema.registry.encryption.hostname.verification.enable
(see encryption.hostname.verification.enable)schema.registry.encryption.keystore.enable
(see encryption.keystore.enable)schema.registry.encryption.keystore.path
(see encryption.keystore.path)schema.registry.encryption.keystore.password
(see encryption.keystore.password)schema.registry.encryption.keystore.type
(see encryption.keystore.type)schema.registry.encryption.keystore.key.password
(see encryption.keystore.key.password)
Example:
<!-- Set the Confluent Schema registry URL -->
<param name="schema.registry.url">https//localhost:8081</param>
<!-- Set general encryption settings -->
<param name="schema.registry.encryption.enabled.protocols">TLSv1.3</param>
<param name="schema.registry.encryption.cipher.suites">TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA</param>
<param name="schema.registry.encryption.hostname.verification.enable">true</param>
<!-- If required, configure the trust store to trust the Confluent Schema registry certificates -->
<param name="schema.registry.encryption.truststore.type">PKCS12</param>
<param name="schema.registry.encryption.truststore.path">secrets/secrets/kafka.connector.schema.registry.truststore.pkcs12</param></param>
<!-- If mutual TLS is enabled on the Confluent Schema registry, enable and configure the key store -->
<param name="schema.registry.encryption.keystore.enable">true</param>
<param name="schema.registry.encryption.keystore.type">PKCS12</param>
<param name="schema.registry.encryption.keystore.path">secrets/kafka.connector.schema.registry.encryption.keystore.pkcs12</param>
<param name="schema.registry.encryption.keystore.password">schemaregistry-keystore-password</param>
<param name="schema.registry.encryption.keystore.key.password">schemaregistry-private-key-password</param>
Am item template instructs the Kafka Connector on how to route a subscribed item how a subscribed item is
Example:
<param name="item-template.stock">stock</param>
<param name="item-template.stock">stock</param>