What is geode-kafka-connector

Kafka provides an integration point through Source and Sink Connectors. The GeodeKafkaSource allows Geode to be a data source for Kafka The GeodeKafkaSink allows Geode to consume data off of topics and store data from Kafka.

How to install the geode-kafka-connector


Prequisite

  • Kafka is installed and is up and running. See the Kafka quickstart for more info: Kafka Quickstart
  • A Geode Cluster with at least one locator and one server and regions to source from and sink to.
  • Topics created in Kafka to source from and sink to.

Installation of the connector is similar in process to other Kafka Connectors. For now, we will follow the guide for Manual Installation.

In summary, we will use the standalone worker for this example.

  • Explode a zip file or build into a known (and Kafka accessible) location
  • Modify the connect-standalone.properties and point to where the connector is installed.
plugin.path=/Users/jhuynh/Pivotal/geode-kafka-connector/build/libs/
  • Create and modify connect-geode-source.properties file, for example
name=geode-kafka-sink
connector.class=GeodeKafkaSink
tasks.max=1
topicToRegions=[someTopicToSinkFrom:someRegionToConsume]
locators=localHost[10334]
  • Create and modify connect-geode-sink.properties files
name=geode-kafka-source
connector.class=GeodeKafkaSource
tasks.max=1
regionToTopics=[someRegionToSourceFrom:someTopicToConsume]
locators=localHost[10334]
  • Run bin/connect-standalone.sh config/connect-standalone.properties config/connect-geode-source.properties config/connect-geode-sink.properties

GeodeKafkaSink Properties

PropertyRequiredDescriptionDefault
locatorsno, but...A comma separated string of locators that configure which locators to connect tolocalhost[10334]
topicToRegionsyesA comma separated list of “one topic to many regions” bindings. Each binding is surrounded by brackets. For example “[topicName:regionName], [anotherTopic: regionName, anotherRegion]”None. This is required to be set in the source connector properties
security-client-auth-initnoPoint to class that implements the AuthInitialize Interface
nullValuesMeanRemovenoIf set to true, when topics send a SinkRecord with a null value, we will convert to an operation similar to region.remove instead of putting a null value into the regiontrue
  • The topicToRegions property allows us to create mappings between topics and regions. A single one-to-one mapping would look similar to “[topic:region]” A one-to-many mapping can be made by comma separating the regions, for example “[topic:region1,region2]” This is equivalent to both regions being consumers of the topic.

GeodeKafkaSource Properties

PropertyRequiredDescriptionDefault
locatorsno, but...A comma separated string of locators that configure which locators to connect tolocalhost[10334]
regionToTopicsyesA comma separated list of “one region to many topics” mappings. Each mapping is surrounded by brackets. For example "[regionName:topicName], “[anotherRegion: topicName, anotherTopic]”None. This is required to be set in the source connector properties
security-client-auth-initnoPoint to class that implements the AuthInitialize Interface
geodeConnectorBatchSizenoMaximum number of records to return on each poll100
loadEntireRegionnoDetermines if we should queue up all entries that currently exist in the region. This allows us to copy existing region data. Will be replayed whenever a task needs to re-register a cqtrue
durableClientIdPrefixnoPrefix string for tasks to append to when registering as a durable client. If empty string, will not register as a durable client""
durableClientTimeoutnoHow long in milliseconds to persist values in Geode's durable queue before the queue is invalidated60000
cqPrefixnoPrefix string to identify Connector cq's on a Geode servercqForGeodeKafka
  • The regionToTopics property allows us to create mappings between regions and topics. A single one-to-one mapping would look similar to “[region:topic]” A one-to-many mapping can be made by comma separating the topics, for example “[region:topic1,topic2]” This is equivalent to the region be a producer for both topics

  • Consider modifying Kafka Properties like tasks.max in the source and sink parameters.

Extra Details

  • Each source task has information and will push off the shared queue to Kafka, however only one task will register a cq with Apache Geode
  • Each sink task is able to update any of the configured Apache Geode region.

Possible Upcoming Featured:

  • Formatters - Possibly a JSON to and from PDX formatter
  • Security - security settings for Geode
  • Dynamic Region creation - Dynamically create regions when topics are created (filter what names to look for and what types of regions to create)
  • Allow a single worker to connect to multiple Geode Clusters?