Description

This Processor puts the contents of a FlowFile to a Topic in Apache Kafka using KafkaProducer API available with Kafka 1.0 API. The content of a FlowFile becomes the contents of a Kafka message. This message is optionally assigned a key by using the <Kafka Key> Property.

The Processor allows the user to configure an optional Message Demarcator that can be used to send many messages per FlowFile. For example, a \n could be used to indicate that the contents of the FlowFile should be used to send one message per line of text. It also supports multi-char demarcators (e.g., 'my custom demarcator'). If the property is not set, the entire contents of the FlowFile will be sent as a single message. When using the demarcator, if some messages are successfully sent but other messages fail to send, the resulting FlowFile will be considered a failed FlowFile and will have additional attributes to that effect. One of such attributes is 'failed.last.idx' which indicates the index of the last message that was successfully ACKed by Kafka. (if no demarcator is used the value of this index will be -1). This will allow PublishKafka to only re-send un-ACKed messages on the next re-try.

Security Configuration

The Security Protocol property allows the user to specify the protocol for communicating with the Kafka broker. The following sections describe each of the protocols in further detail.

PLAINTEXT

This option provides an unsecured connection to the broker, with no client authentication and no encryption. In order to use this option the broker must be configured with a listener of the form:

    PLAINTEXT://host.name:port
            

SSL

This option provides an encrypted connection to the broker, with optional client authentication. In order to use this option the broker must be configured with a listener of the form:

    SSL://host.name:port
            

If the broker specifies ssl.client.auth=none, or does not specify ssl.client.auth, then the client will not be required to present a certificate. In this case, the SSL Context Service selected may specify only a truststore containing the public key of the certificate authority used to sign the broker's key.

If the broker specifies ssl.client.auth=required then the client will be required to present a certificate. In this case, the SSL Context Service must also specify a keystore containing a client key, in addition to a truststore as described above.

SASL_PLAINTEXT

This option uses SASL with a PLAINTEXT transport layer to authenticate to the broker. In order to use this option the broker must be configured with a listener of the form:

    SASL_PLAINTEXT://host.name:port
            

SASL_PLAINTEXT - GSSAPI

If the SASL mechanism is GSSAPI, then the client must provide a JAAS configuration to authenticate. The JAAS configuration can be provided by specifying the java.security.auth.login.config system property in NiFi's bootstrap.conf, such as:

    java.arg.16=-Djava.security.auth.login.config=/path/to/kafka_client_jaas.conf
            

An example of the JAAS config file would be the following:

    KafkaClient {
        com.sun.security.auth.module.Krb5LoginModule required
        useKeyTab=true
        storeKey=true
        keyTab="/path/to/nifi.keytab"
        serviceName="kafka"
        principal="nifi@YOURREALM.COM";
    };
            

Alternatively, the JAAS configuration when using GSSAPI can be provided by specifying the Kerberos Principal and Kerberos Keytab directly in the processor properties. This will dynamically create a JAAS configuration like above, and will take precedence over the java.security.auth.login.config system property.

SASL_PLAINTEXT - PLAIN

If the SASL mechanism is PLAIN, then client must provide a JAAS configuration to authenticate, but the JAAS configuration must use Kafka's PlainLoginModule. An example of the JAAS config file would be the following:

    KafkaClient {
      org.apache.kafka.common.security.plain.PlainLoginModule required
      username="nifi"
      password="nifi-password";
    };
            

NOTE: It is not recommended to use a SASL mechanism of PLAIN with SASL_PLAINTEXT, as it would transmit the username and password unencrypted.

NOTE: Using the PlainLoginModule will cause it be registered in the JVM's static list of Providers, making it visible to components in other NARs that may access the providers. There is currently a known issue where Kafka processors using the PlainLoginModule will cause HDFS processors with Keberos to no longer work.

SASL_SSL

This option uses SASL with an SSL/TLS transport layer to authenticate to the broker. In order to use this option the broker must be configured with a listener of the form:

    SASL_SSL://host.name:port
            

See the SASL_PLAINTEXT section for a description of how to provide the proper JAAS configuration depending on the SASL mechanism (GSSAPI or PLAIN).

See the SSL section for a description of how to configure the SSL Context Service based on the ssl.client.auth property.