Salesforce SObject Sink Connector for Confluent Cloud¶
The fully-managed Salesforce SObject Sink connector for Confluent Cloud performs CRUD operations (create, update, delete, and insert) on Salesforce SObject using data available from Apache Kafka® topics. This connector can be thought of as the inverse of the Salesforce PushTopic Source connector because it can operate on data created from the Salesforce PushTopic Source connector.
For example, there are two Salesforce.com organizations or Instances: Instance A and Instance B. A data engineer wants to synchronize Salesforce Lead objects from Instance A to Instance B. The engineer can configure and deploy the PushTopic Source connector to stream a Salesforce Lead from Instance A into a single Kafka topic, while the SObject Sink connector is configured to stream a Lead from the Kafka topic into Instance B. Depending upon the configuration, all changes to Lead SObject may be synchronized across organizations.
Note
This is a Quick Start for the fully-managed cloud connector. If you are installing the connector locally for Confluent Platform, see Salesforce SObject Sink Connector for Confluent Platform.
Features¶
The Salesforce SObject Sink connector provides the following features:
At least once delivery: This connector guarantees that records from the Kafka topic are delivered at least once.
Supports multiple tasks: The connector supports running one or more tasks. More tasks may improve performance (that is, consumer lag is reduced with multiple tasks running).
Automatically creates topics: The following three topics are automatically created when the connector starts:
- Success topic
- Error topic
- Dead letter queue (DLQ) topic
The suffix for each topic name is the connector’s logical ID. In the example below, there are the three connector topics and one pre-existing Kafka topic named pageviews.
If the records sent to the topic are not in the correct format, or if important fields are missing in the record, the errors are recorded in the error topic, and the connector continues to run.
Supported data formats: The connector supports Avro, JSON Schema (JSON-SR), and Protobuf input Kafka record value formats. Schema Registry must be enabled to use these Schema Registry-based formats.
For more information and examples to use with the Confluent Cloud API for Connect, see the Confluent Cloud API for Managed and Custom Connectors section.
Limitations¶
Be sure to review the following information.
- For connector limitations, see Salesforce SObject Sink Connector limitations.
- If you plan to use one or more Single Message Transforms (SMTs), see SMT Limitations.
- If you plan to use Confluent Cloud Schema Registry, see Schema Registry Enabled Environments.
Quick Start¶
Use this quick start to get up and running with the Confluent Cloud Salesforce SObject Sink connector. The quick start provides the basics of selecting the connector and configuring it to stream events
- Prerequisites
- Authorized access to a Confluent Cloud cluster on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure (Azure), or Google Cloud.
- An authorized Salesforce user and credentials for the connector.
- The Confluent CLI installed and configured for the cluster. See Install the Confluent CLI.
- Schema Registry must be enabled to use a Schema Registry-based format (for example, Avro, JSON_SR (JSON Schema), or Protobuf). See Schema Registry Enabled Environments for additional information.
- At least one source Kafka topic must exist in your Confluent Cloud cluster before creating the sink connector.
Using the Confluent Cloud Console¶
Step 1: Launch your Confluent Cloud cluster¶
See the Quick Start for Confluent Cloud for installation instructions.
Step 2: Add a connector¶
In the left navigation menu, click Connectors. If you already have connectors in your cluster, click + Add connector.
Step 4: Enter the connector details¶
Note
- Ensure you have all your prerequisites completed.
- An asterisk ( * ) designates a required entry.
At the Add Salesforce SObject Sink Connector screen, complete the following:
If you’ve already populated your Kafka topics, select the topics you want to connect from the Topics list.
To create a new topic, click +Add new topic.
- Select the way you want to provide Kafka Cluster credentials. You can
choose one of the following options:
- Global Access: Allows your connector to access everything you have access to. With global access, connector access will be linked to your account. This option is not recommended for production.
- Granular access: Limits the access for your connector. You will be able to manage connector access through a service account. This option is recommended for production.
- Use an existing API key: Allows you to enter an API key and secret part you have stored. You can enter an API key and secret (or generate these in the Cloud Console).
- Click Continue.
Enter the following Salesforce connection details:
Salesforce grant type: Sets the authentication grant type to
PASSWORD
orJWT_BEARER
(Salesforce JSON Web Token (JWT)). Defaults toPASSWORD
.Salesforce instance: The URL of the Salesforce endpoint to use. The default is https://login.salesforce.com. This directs the connector to use the endpoint specified in the authentication response.
Note
The following properties are used based on the Salesforce grant type you choose.
JWT_BEARER
: Requires username, consumer key, JWT keystore file, and JWT keystore password.PASSWORD
: Requires username, password, password token, consumer key, and consumer secret.
Salesforce username: The Salesforce username for the connector to use.
Salesforce password: The Salesforce password for the connector to use.
Salesforce password token: The Salesforce security token associated with the username.
Salesforce consumer key: The consumer key for the OAuth application.
Salesforce consumer secret: The consumer secret for the OAuth application.
Salesforce JWT keystore file: If using the grant type
JWT_BEARER
, upload the JWT keystore file.Salesforce JWT keystore password: Enter the password used to access the JWT keystore file.
Click Continue.
Note
Configuration properties that are not shown in the Cloud Console use the default values. See Configuration Properties for all property values and definitions.
Select the Input Kafka record value format (data coming from the Kafka topic): AVRO, JSON_SR, or PROTOBUF. A valid schema must be available in Schema Registry to use a schema-based message format (for example, Avro, JSON Schema, or Protobuf). See Schema Registry Enabled Environments for additional information.
Show advanced configurations
Schema context: Select a schema context to use for this connector, if using a schema-based data format. This property defaults to the Default context, which configures the connector to use the default schema set up for Schema Registry in your Confluent Cloud environment. A schema context allows you to use separate schemas (like schema sub-registries) tied to topics in different Kafka clusters that share the same Schema Registry environment. For example, if you select a non-default context, a Source connector uses only that schema context to register a schema and a Sink connector uses only that schema context to read from. For more information about setting up a schema context, see What are schema contexts and when should you use them?.
Salesforce SObject Override: If set to
true
, the connector overrides the Kafka SObject source record event type (create, update, or delete) using the operation specified in the SObject Override Operation property.SObject Override Operation: Used when Salesforce SObject Override is set to
true
. This sets the override operation to perform on the SObject. Options are:insert
,update
,upsert
, anddelete
. Defaults toinsert
.SObject Ignore Fields: A comma-delimited list of fields to ignore when the connector is pushing a record to Salesforce.
SObject Ignore Reference Fields: Defaults to true. This prevents reference type fields from being inserted or updated in Salesforce SObjects.
Salesforce SObject Use Custom Field: Flag to use custom external id field in SObjects.
Salesforce SObject Custom Field Name: The name of a custom external ID field in SObject to structure REST API calls for INSERT, UPSERT, DELETE, and UPDATE operations.
Connection timeout. The amount of time to wait in milliseconds when connecting to the Salesforce endpoint.
Max Retry Time in Milliseconds. In case of error when making a request to Salesforce, the connector will retry until this time (in ms) elapses. The default value is 30000 (30 seconds). Minimum value is one second.
Transforms and Predicates: See the Single Message Transforms (SMT) documentation for details.
See Configuration Properties for all property values and definitions.
Click Continue.
Based on the number of topic partitions you select, you will be provided with a recommended number of tasks.
- To change the number of recommended tasks, enter the number of tasks for the connector to use in the Tasks field.
- Click Continue.
Verify the connection details.
Click Launch.
The status for the connector should go from Provisioning to Running.
Step 5: Check for records¶
Verify that records are being produced at the endpoint.
For more information and examples to use with the Confluent Cloud API for Connect, see the Confluent Cloud API for Managed and Custom Connectors section.
Tip
When you launch a connector, a Dead Letter Queue topic is automatically created. See Confluent Cloud Dead Letter Queue for details.
Using the Confluent CLI¶
Complete the following steps to set up and run the connector using the Confluent CLI.
Note
Make sure you have all your prerequisites completed.
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 the required connector properties.
{
"connector.class": "SalesforceSObjectSink",
"input.data.format": "AVRO",
"name": "SalesforceSObjectSinkConnector_0",
"kafka.auth.mode": "KAFKA_API_KEY",
"kafka.api.key": "<my-kafka-api-key>",
"kafka.api.secret": "<my-kafka-api-secret>",
"salesforce.grant.type": "PASSWORD",
"salesforce.username": "<username>",
"salesforce.password": "<password>",
"salesforce.password.token": "<password-token>",
"salesforce.consumer.key": "<consumer-key>",
"salesforce.consumer.secret": "<consumer-secret>",
"salesforce.object": "<salesforce-SObject>",
"tasks.max": "1",
"topics": "orders",
}
Note the following property definitions:
"connector.class"
: Identifies the connector plugin name."input.data.format"
: Sets the input Kafka record value format (data coming from the Kafka topic). Valid entries are AVRO, JSON_SR, and PROTOBUF. You must have Confluent Cloud Schema Registry configured if using a schema-based message format (for example, Avro, JSON_SR (JSON Schema), or Protobuf)."name"
: Sets a name for your new connector.
"kafka.auth.mode"
: Identifies the connector authentication mode you want to use. There are two options:SERVICE_ACCOUNT
orKAFKA_API_KEY
(the default). To use an API key and secret, specify the configuration propertieskafka.api.key
andkafka.api.secret
, as shown in the example configuration (above). To use a service account, specify the Resource ID in the propertykafka.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
"salesforce.grant.type"
: Sets the authentication grant type toPASSWORD
(username+password) orJWT_BEARER
(Salesforce JSON Web Token (JWT)). Defaults toPASSWORD
.Note
The following properties are used based on the
salesforce.grant.type
you choose.JWT_BEARER
: Requires username, consumer key, JWT keystore file, and JWT keystore password.PASSWORD
: Requires username, password, password token, consumer key, and consumer secret.
"salesforce.username"
: The Salesforce username for the connector to use."salesforce.password"
: The Salesforce username password."salesforce.password.token"
: The Salesforce security token associated with the username."salesforce.consumer.key"
: The consumer key for the OAuth application."salesforce.consumer.secret"
: The consumer secret for the OAuth application."salesforce.jwt.keystore.file"
: Salesforce JWT keystore file. The JWT keystore file is a binary file and you supply the contents of the file in the property encoded in Base64. To use thesalesforce.jwt.keystore.file
property, encode the keystore contents in Base64, take the encoded string, add thedata:text/plain:base64
prefix, and then use the entire string as the property entry. For example:"salesforce.jwt.keystore.file" : "data:text/plain;base64,/u3+7QAAAAIAAAACAAAAGY2xpZ...==", "salesforce.jwt.keystore.password" : "<password>",
"salesforce.jwt.keystore.password"
: Enter the password used to access the JWT keystore file."salesforce.object"
: Enter the SObject name to write to."tasks.max"
: Enter the maximum number of tasks for the connector to use. More tasks may improve performance (that is, consumer lag is reduced with multiple tasks running)."topics"
: Enter the topic name or a comma-separated list of topic names.
Single Message Transforms: See the Single Message Transforms (SMT) documentation for details about adding SMTs using the CLI.
See Configuration Properties for all property values and descriptions.
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 salesforce-SObject-sink-config.json
Example output:
Created connector SalesforceSObjectSinkConnector_0 lcc-do6vzd
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 | Trace
+------------+----------------------------------+---------+------+-------+
lcc-do6vzd | SalesforceSObjectSinkConnector_0 | RUNNING | sink | |
Step 6: Check for records.¶
Verify that records are populating the endpoint.
For more information and examples to use with the Confluent Cloud API for Connect, see the Confluent Cloud API for Managed and Custom Connectors section.
Tip
When you launch a connector, a Dead Letter Queue topic is automatically created. See Confluent Cloud Dead Letter Queue for details.
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.
Which topics do you want to get data from?¶
topics
Identifies the topic name or a comma-separated list of topic names.
- Type: list
- Importance: high
Schema Config¶
schema.context.name
Add a schema context name. A schema context represents an independent scope in Schema Registry. It is a separate sub-schema tied to topics in different Kafka clusters that share the same Schema Registry instance. If not used, the connector uses the default schema configured for Schema Registry in your Confluent Cloud environment.
- Type: string
- Default: default
- Importance: medium
Input messages¶
input.data.format
Sets the input Kafka record value format. Valid entries are AVRO, JSON_SR and PROTOBUF. Note that you need to have Confluent Cloud Schema Registry configured
- Type: string
- Importance: high
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
How should we connect to Salesforce?¶
salesforce.grant.type
Salesforce grant type. Valid options are ‘PASSWORD’ and ‘JWT_BEARER’.
- Type: string
- Default: PASSWORD
- Importance: high
salesforce.instance
The URL of the Salesforce endpoint to use. The default is https://login.salesforce.com. This directs the connector to use the endpoint specified in the authentication response.
- Type: string
- Default: https://login.salesforce.com
- Importance: high
salesforce.username
The Salesforce username the connector should use.
- Type: string
- Importance: high
salesforce.password
The Salesforce password the connector should use.
- Type: password
- Importance: high
salesforce.password.token
The Salesforce security token associated with the username.
- Type: password
- Importance: high
salesforce.consumer.key
The consumer key for the OAuth application.
- Type: password
- Importance: high
salesforce.consumer.secret
The consumer secret for the OAuth application.
- Type: password
- Importance: medium
salesforce.jwt.keystore.file
Salesforce JWT keystore file which contains the private key.
- Type: password
- Default: [hidden]
- Importance: medium
salesforce.jwt.keystore.password
Password used to access JWT keystore file.
- Type: password
- Importance: medium
salesforce.object
The Salesforce SObject to write to.
- Type: string
- Importance: high
Salesforce SObject properties¶
salesforce.object.override.event.type
A flag to indicate that the Kafka SObject source record EventType(create, update, delete) is overridden to use the operation specified in the SObject override operation field.
- Type: boolean
- Default: false
- Importance: low
salesforce.sink.object.operation
The Salesforce sink operation to perform on the SObject. One of: insert, update, upsert, delete. Default is insert. This feature works if
override.event.type
is true.- Type: string
- Default: insert
- Importance: low
salesforce.ignore.fields
Comma separate list of fields from the source Kafka record to ignore when pushing a record into Salesforce.
- Type: list
- Default: “”
- Importance: low
salesforce.ignore.reference.fields
Flag to prevent reference type fields from being updated or inserted in Salesforce SObjects.
- Type: boolean
- Default: false
- Importance: low
salesforce.use.custom.id.field
Flag to use custom external id field in SObjects.
- Type: boolean
- Default: false
- Importance: low
salesforce.custom.id.field.name
Name of a custom external id field in SObject to structure Rest Api calls for insert, upsert, delete, and update operations.
- Type: string
- Importance: low
Connection details¶
connection.timeout
The amount of time to wait in milliseconds while connecting to the Salesforce streaming endpoint.
- Type: long
- Default: 30000
- Importance: low
request.max.retries.time.ms
In case of error when making a request to Salesforce, the connector will retry until this time (in ms) elapses. The default value is 30000 (30 seconds). Minimum value is 1 sec
- Type: long
- Default: 30000 (30 seconds)
- Valid Values: [1000,…,250000]
- Importance: low
behavior.on.api.errors
Error handling behavior config for any API errors.
- Type: string
- Default: ignore
- Importance: low
Consumer configuration¶
max.poll.interval.ms
The maximum delay between subsequent consume requests to Kafka. This configuration property may be used to improve the performance of the connector, if the connector cannot send records to the sink system. Defaults to 300000 milliseconds (5 minutes).
- Type: long
- Default: 300000 (5 minutes)
- Valid Values: [60000,…,1800000]
- Importance: low
max.poll.records
The maximum number of records to consume from Kafka in a single request. This configuration property may be used to improve the performance of the connector, if the connector cannot send records to the sink system. Defaults to 500 records.
- Type: long
- Default: 500
- 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
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.