Azure Event Hubs Source Connector for Confluent Cloud

The fully-managed Azure Event Hubs Source connector for Confluent Cloud is used to poll data from Azure Event Hubs and persist the data to an Apache Kafka® topic. For additional information about Azure Event Hubs, see the Azure Event Hubs documentation. The connector fetches records from Azure Event Hubs through a subscription. The connector uses a BytesArrayConverter internally to transform data elements into byte records.

Note

Features

The Azure Event Hubs Source connector provides the following features:

  • Topics created automatically: The connector can automatically create Kafka topics.
  • Select configuration properties:
    • azure.eventhubs.partition.starting.position
    • azure.eventhubs.consumer.group
    • azure.eventhubs.transport.type
    • azure.eventhubs.offset.type
    • max.events (defaults to 50 with a maximum of 499 events)

For more information and examples to use with the Confluent Cloud API for Connect, see the Confluent Cloud API for Connect Usage Examples section.

Limitations

Be sure to review the following information.

Quick Start

Use this quick start to get up and running with the Confluent Cloud Azure Event Hubs Source connector.

Prerequisites
  • Authorized access to a Confluent Cloud cluster on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure (Azure), or Google Cloud.
  • At least one topic must exist before creating the connector.
  • The Confluent CLI installed and configured for the cluster. See Install the Confluent CLI.
  • An Azure account with an existing Event Hubs Namespace, Event Hub, and Consumer Group.
  • An Azure Event Hubs Shared Access Policy with its policy name and key.
  • Kafka cluster credentials. The following lists the different ways you can provide credentials.
    • Enter an existing service account resource ID.
    • Create a Confluent Cloud service account for the connector. Make sure to review the ACL entries required in the service account documentation. Some connectors have specific ACL requirements.
    • Create a Confluent Cloud API key and secret. To create a key and secret, you can use confluent api-key create or you can autogenerate the API key and secret directly in the Cloud Console when setting up the connector.

Using the Confluent Cloud Console

Step 1: Launch your Confluent Cloud cluster

To create and launch a Kafka cluster in Confluent Cloud, see Create a kafka cluster in Confluent Cloud.

Step 2: Add a connector

In the left navigation menu, click Connectors. If you already have connectors in your cluster, click + Add connector.

Step 3: Select your connector

Click the Azure Event Hubs Source connector card.

Azure Event Hubs Source Connector Card

Step 4: Enter the connector details

Note

  • Make sure you have all your prerequisites completed.
  • An asterisk ( * ) designates a required entry.

At the Add Azure Event Hubs Source Connector screen, complete the following:

Select the topic you want to send data to from the Topics list. To create a new topic, click +Add new topic.

Step 5: Check the Kafka topic

After the connector is running, verify that messages are populating your Kafka topic.

For more information and examples to use with the Confluent Cloud API for Connect, see the Confluent Cloud API for Connect Usage Examples section.

Using the Confluent CLI

Complete the following steps to set up and run the connector using the Confluent CLI.

Important

  • Make sure you have all your prerequisites completed.

  • You must create topic names before creating and launching this connector. Use the following command to create a topic using the Confluent CLI.

    confluent kafka topic create <topic-name>

Step 1: List the available connectors

Enter the following command to list available connectors:

confluent connect plugin list

Step 2: List the connector configuration properties

Enter the following command to show the connector configuration properties:

confluent connect plugin describe <connector-plugin-name>

The command output shows the required and optional configuration properties.

Step 3: Create the connector configuration file

Create a JSON file that contains the connector configuration properties. The following example shows required and optional connector properties.

{
    "connector.class": "AzureEventHubsSource",
    "name": "azure-eventhubs-source",
    "kafka.auth.mode": "KAFKA_API_KEY",
    "kafka.api.key": "<my-kafka-api-key>",
    "kafka.api.secret": "<my-kafka-api-secret>",
    "azure.eventhubs.sas.keyname": "<-my-shared-access-policy name->",
    "azure.eventhubs.sas.key": "<my-shared-access-key>",
    "azure.eventhubs.namespace": "<my-eventhubs-namespace>",
    "azure.eventhubs.hub.name": "<my-eventhub-name>",
    "azure.eventhubs.consumer.group": "<my-eventhub-consumer-group>",
    "kafka.topic": "<my-topic-name>",
    "azure.eventhubs.partition.starting.position": "START_OF_STREAM",
    "azure.eventhubs.transport.type": "AMQP",
    "azure.eventhubs.offset.type": "OFFSET",
    "max.events": "50",
    "tasks.max": "1"
  }

Note the following property definitions:

  • "name": Sets a name for your new connector.
  • "connector.class": Identifies the connector plugin name.

  • "kafka.auth.mode": Identifies the connector authentication mode you want to use. There are two options: SERVICE_ACCOUNT or KAFKA_API_KEY (the default). To use an API key and secret, specify the configuration properties kafka.api.key and kafka.api.secret, as shown in the example configuration (above). To use a service account, specify the Resource ID in the property kafka.service.account.id=<service-account-resource-ID>. To list the available service account resource IDs, use the following command:

    confluent iam service-account list

    For example:

    confluent iam service-account list

   Id     | Resource ID |       Name        |    Description
+---------+-------------+-------------------+-------------------
   123456 | sa-l1r23m   | sa-1              | Service account 1
   789101 | sa-l4d56p   | sa-2              | Service account 2

  • "azure.eventhubs.partition.starting.position": (Optional) Sets the starting position in the Event Hub if no offsets are stored and a reset occurs. The value can be START_OF_STREAM or END_OF_STREAM. If no property is entered, the configuration defaults to START_OF_STREAM.

    Note

    The Azure Event Hub Source connector uses x-opt-kafka-key key-value pair as the partition key when the Azure SDK EventData.PartitionKey property is null and when the x-opt-kafka-key is present.

  • "azure.eventhubs.transport.type": (Optional) Sets the transport type for communicating with Azure Event Hubs. The value can be AMQP or AMQP_WEB_SOCKETS. AMQP (over TCP) uses port 5671. AMQP over web sockets uses port 443. If no property is entered, the configuration defaults to AMQP.

  • "azure.eventhubs.offset.type": (Optional) Sets the offset type used to keep track of events. The value can be OFFSET (the Azure Event Hubs offset for the event) or SEQ_NUM (the sequence number of the event). If no property is entered, the configuration defaults to OFFSET.

  • "max.events": (Optional) The maximum number of events to read from an Event Hub partition when polling. If no property is entered, the configuration defaults to 50. 499 is the maximum number of events.

Single Message Transforms: See the Single Message Transforms (SMT) documentation for details about adding SMTs. See Unsupported transformations for a list of SMTs that are not supported with this connector.

See Configuration Properties for all property values and definitions.

Step 4: Load the properties file and create the connector

Enter the following command to load the configuration and start the connector:

confluent connect cluster create --config-file <file-name>.json

For example:

confluent connect cluster create --config-file az-event-hubs.json

Example output:

Created connector azure-eventhubs-source lcc-ix4dl

Step 5: Check the connector status

Enter the following command to check the connector status:

confluent connect cluster list

Example output:

ID          |           Name           | Status  |  Type
+-----------+--------------------------+---------+--------+
lcc-ix4dl   | azure-eventhubs-source   | RUNNING | source

Step 6: Check the Kafka topic.

After the connector is running, verify that messages are populating your Kafka topic.

For more information and examples to use with the Confluent Cloud API for Connect, see the Confluent Cloud API for Connect Usage Examples section.

Configuration Properties

Use the following configuration properties with the fully-managed connector. For self-managed connector property definitions and other details, see the connector docs in Self-managed connectors for Confluent Platform.

Note

These are properties for the fully-managed cloud connector. If you are installing the connector locally for Confluent Platform, see Azure Event Hubs Source Connector for Confluent Platform.

How should we connect to your data?

name

Sets a name for your connector.

  • Type: string
  • Valid Values: A string at most 64 characters long
  • Importance: high

Kafka Cluster credentials

kafka.auth.mode

Kafka Authentication mode. It can be one of KAFKA_API_KEY or SERVICE_ACCOUNT. It defaults to KAFKA_API_KEY mode.

  • Type: string
  • Default: KAFKA_API_KEY
  • Valid Values: KAFKA_API_KEY, SERVICE_ACCOUNT
  • Importance: high
kafka.api.key

Kafka API Key. Required when kafka.auth.mode==KAFKA_API_KEY.

  • Type: password
  • Importance: high
kafka.service.account.id

The Service Account that will be used to generate the API keys to communicate with Kafka Cluster.

  • Type: string
  • Importance: high
kafka.api.secret

Secret associated with Kafka API key. Required when kafka.auth.mode==KAFKA_API_KEY.

  • Type: password
  • Importance: high

Which topic do you want to send data to?

kafka.topic

Identifies the topic name to write the data to.

  • Type: string
  • Importance: high

How should we connect to your Event Hub?

azure.eventhubs.sas.keyname

Shared access policy name to use for access authentication.

  • Type: string
  • Importance: high
azure.eventhubs.sas.key

Shared access key to use for access authentication.

  • Type: password
  • Importance: high
azure.eventhubs.namespace

Event Hubs namespace to connect to.

  • Type: string
  • Importance: high
azure.eventhubs.hub.name

Event Hub to read from.

  • Type: string
  • Importance: high
azure.eventhubs.consumer.group

Specific consumer group to read from.

  • Type: string
  • Default: $Default
  • Importance: low
azure.eventhubs.domain

Specifies the domain of the Event Hub to connect to. Available options include: servicebus.windows.net, servicebus.usgovcloudapi.net, servicebus.cloudapi.de, servicebus.chinacloudapi.cn. Default is servicebus.windows.net.

  • Type: string
  • Default: servicebus.windows.net
  • Importance: low

Connection details

azure.eventhubs.partition.starting.position

Default reset position if no offsets are stored.

  • Type: string
  • Default: START_OF_STREAM
  • Importance: medium
azure.eventhubs.transport.type

Event Hubs communication transport type.

  • Type: string
  • Default: AMQP
  • Importance: low
azure.eventhubs.offset.type

Offset type to use to keep track of events

  • Type: string
  • Default: OFFSET
  • Importance: medium
max.events

Maximum number of events to read when polling an Event Hub partition.

  • Type: int
  • Default: 50
  • Valid Values: [1,…,500]
  • Importance: low

Number of tasks for this connector

tasks.max

Maximum number of tasks for the connector.

  • Type: int
  • Valid Values: [1,…]
  • Importance: high

Auto-restart policy

auto.restart.on.user.error

Enable connector to automatically restart on user-actionable errors.

  • Type: boolean
  • Default: true
  • Importance: medium

Additional Configs

header.converter

The converter class for the headers. This is used to serialize and deserialize the headers of the messages.

  • Type: string
  • Importance: low
producer.override.compression.type

The compression type for all data generated by the producer.

  • Type: string
  • Importance: low
value.converter.allow.optional.map.keys

Allow optional string map key when converting from Connect Schema to Avro Schema. Applicable for Avro Converters.

  • Type: boolean
  • Importance: low
value.converter.auto.register.schemas

Specify if the Serializer should attempt to register the Schema.

  • Type: boolean
  • Importance: low
value.converter.connect.meta.data

Allow the Connect converter to add its metadata to the output schema. Applicable for Avro Converters.

  • Type: boolean
  • Importance: low
value.converter.enhanced.avro.schema.support

Enable enhanced schema support to preserve package information and Enums. Applicable for Avro Converters.

  • Type: boolean
  • Importance: low
value.converter.enhanced.protobuf.schema.support

Enable enhanced schema support to preserve package information. Applicable for Protobuf Converters.

  • Type: boolean
  • Importance: low
value.converter.flatten.unions

Whether to flatten unions (oneofs). Applicable for Protobuf Converters.

  • Type: boolean
  • Importance: low
value.converter.generate.index.for.unions

Whether to generate an index suffix for unions. Applicable for Protobuf Converters.

  • Type: boolean
  • Importance: low
value.converter.generate.struct.for.nulls

Whether to generate a struct variable for null values. Applicable for Protobuf Converters.

  • Type: boolean
  • Importance: low
value.converter.int.for.enums

Whether to represent enums as integers. Applicable for Protobuf Converters.

  • Type: boolean
  • Importance: low
value.converter.latest.compatibility.strict

Verify latest subject version is backward compatible when use.latest.version is true.

  • Type: boolean
  • Importance: low
value.converter.object.additional.properties

Whether to allow additional properties for object schemas. Applicable for JSON_SR Converters.

  • Type: boolean
  • Importance: low
value.converter.optional.for.nullables

Whether nullable fields should be specified with an optional label. Applicable for Protobuf Converters.

  • Type: boolean
  • Importance: low
value.converter.optional.for.proto2

Whether proto2 optionals are supported. Applicable for Protobuf Converters.

  • Type: boolean
  • Importance: low
value.converter.use.latest.version

Use latest version of schema in subject for serialization when auto.register.schemas is false.

  • Type: boolean
  • Importance: low
value.converter.use.optional.for.nonrequired

Whether to set non-required properties to be optional. Applicable for JSON_SR Converters.

  • Type: boolean
  • Importance: low
value.converter.wrapper.for.nullables

Whether nullable fields should use primitive wrapper messages. Applicable for Protobuf Converters.

  • Type: boolean
  • Importance: low
value.converter.wrapper.for.raw.primitives

Whether a wrapper message should be interpreted as a raw primitive at root level. Applicable for Protobuf Converters.

  • Type: boolean
  • Importance: low
key.converter.key.subject.name.strategy

How to construct the subject name for key schema registration.

  • Type: string
  • Default: TopicNameStrategy
  • Importance: low
value.converter.decimal.format

Specify the JSON/JSON_SR serialization format for Connect DECIMAL logical type values with two allowed literals:

BASE64 to serialize DECIMAL logical types as base64 encoded binary data and

NUMERIC to serialize Connect DECIMAL logical type values in JSON/JSON_SR as a number representing the decimal value.

  • Type: string
  • Default: BASE64
  • Importance: low
value.converter.flatten.singleton.unions

Whether to flatten singleton unions. Applicable for Avro and JSON_SR Converters.

  • Type: boolean
  • Default: false
  • Importance: low
value.converter.reference.subject.name.strategy

Set the subject reference name strategy for value. Valid entries are DefaultReferenceSubjectNameStrategy or QualifiedReferenceSubjectNameStrategy. Note that the subject reference name strategy can be selected only for PROTOBUF format with the default strategy being DefaultReferenceSubjectNameStrategy.

  • Type: string
  • Default: DefaultReferenceSubjectNameStrategy
  • Importance: low
value.converter.value.subject.name.strategy

Determines how to construct the subject name under which the value schema is registered with Schema Registry.

  • Type: string
  • Default: TopicNameStrategy
  • Importance: low

Next Steps

For an example that shows fully-managed Confluent Cloud connectors in action with Confluent Cloud ksqlDB, see the Cloud ETL Demo. This example also shows how to use Confluent CLI to manage your resources in Confluent Cloud.

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