Salesforce PushTopic Source Connector for Confluent Cloud

The fully-managed Salesforce PushTopic Source connector for Confluent Cloud provides the ability to subscribe to create, update, delete, and undelete events that occur with Salesforce Objects (SObjects). You can use the connector to capture these PushTopic events and write the events to an Apache Kafka® topic in order.

Note

Features

The Salesforce PushTopic Source connector provides the following features:

  • Uses the Salesforce streaming API: This connector uses the Salesforce Streaming API for PushTopics.

  • Creates PushTopic: The Salesforce PushTopic name (salesforce.push.topic.name) configuration property provides the name of the PushTopic. If the PushTopic does not exist, a PushTopic with this name is created when the connector launches, if salesforce.push.topic.create is set to true.

  • At least once delivery: The connector guarantees that records are delivered at least once to the Kafka topic. If the connector restarts, there could be duplicate records in the Kafka topic. The following note lists related limitations.

    Note

    • When the connector operates, it periodically records the replay ID of the last record written to Kafka. When the connector is stopped and then restarted within 24 hours, the connector continues consuming the PushTopic where it stopped, with no missed events. However, if the connector stops for more than 24 hours, some events are discarded in Salesforce before the connector can read them.
    • If the connector stops unexpectedly due to a failure, it may not record the replay ID of the last record successfully written to Kafka. When the connector restarts, it resumes from the last recorded replay ID. This means that some events may be duplicated in Kafka.

  • Supported output data formats: The connector supports Avro, JSON Schema, Protobuf, or JSON (schemaless) output data. 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.

  • Tasks: The connector supports running only one task.

  • Offset management capabilities: Supports offset management. For more information, see Manage custom offsets.

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.

Manage custom offsets

You can manage the offsets for this connector. Offsets provide information on the point in the system from which the connector is accessing data. For more information, see Manage Offsets for Fully-Managed Connectors in Confluent Cloud.

To manage offsets:

To get the current offset, make a GET request that specifies the environment, Kafka cluster, and connector name.

GET /connect/v1/environments/{environment_id}/clusters/{kafka_cluster_id}/connectors/{connector_name}/offsets
Host: https://api.confluent.cloud

Response:

Successful calls return HTTP 200 with a JSON payload that describes the offset.

{
    "id": "lcc-example123",
    "name": "{connector_name}",
     "offsets": [
        {
           "partition": {},
           "offset": {
              "replayId": 3826
           }
        }
     ],
    "metadata": {
        "observed_at": "2024-03-28T17:57:48.139635200Z"
    }
}

Responses include the following information:

  • replayId indicates the position of latest offset.
  • The observed time of the offset in the metadata portion of the payload. The observed_at time indicates a snapshot in time for when the API retrieved the offset. A running connector is always updating its offsets. Use observed_at to get a sense for the gap between real time and the time at which the request was made. By default, offsets are observed every minute. Calling get repeatedly will fetch more recently observed offsets.
  • Information about the connector.

JSON payload

The table below offers a description of the unique fields in the JSON payload for managing offsets of the Salesforce PushTopic Source connector.

Field Definition Required/Optional
replayId The ReplayId field value, which is populated by the Salesforce system refers to the position of the event in the event stream. Replay ID values are not guaranteed to be contiguous for consecutive events. For more information, see Message Durability in the Salesforce documentation. Required

Quick Start

Use this quick start to get up and running with the Salesforce PushTopic Source connector. The quick start provides the basics of selecting the connector and configuring it to subscribe to a Salesforce PushTopic.

Prerequisites
  • 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

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 3: Select your connector

Click the Salesforce PushTopic Source connector card.

Salesforce PushTopic Source Connector Card

Important

At least one topic must exist in your Confluent Cloud cluster before creating the connector.

Step 4: Enter the connector details

Note

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

At the Add Salesforce PushTopic 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.

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": "SalesforcePushTopicSource",
  "name": "SalesforcePushTopicSource_0",
  "kafka.api.key": "****************",
  "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": "<my-username>",
  "salesforce.password": "**************",
  "salesforce.password.token": "************************",
  "salesforce.consumer.key": "******************************************",
  "salesforce.consumer.secret": "***************************************",
  "salesforce.object": "<Sobject_name>",
  "salesforce.push.topic.name: "<PushTopic_name>",
  "output.data.format": "JSON",
  "tasks.max": "1"
}

Note the following property definitions:

  • "connector.class": Identifies the connector plugin name.
  • "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 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

  • ""kafka.topic": Enter a Kafka topic name. A topic must exist before launching the connector.

  • "salesforce.grant.type": Sets the authentication grant type to PASSWORD (username+password) or JWT_BEARER (Salesforce JSON Web Token (JWT)). Defaults to PASSWORD.

    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 the salesforce.jwt.keystore.file property, encode the keystore contents in Base64, take the encoded string, add the data: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 create a topic for.

  • "salesforce.push.topic.name: Enter the name of the PushTopic to subscribe to. If no PushTopic exists with the name entered, a PushTopic is created if the property salesforce.push.topic.create is set to true (the default).

  • "output.data.format": Sets the output Kafka record value format (data coming from the connector). Valid entries are AVRO, JSON_SR, PROTOBUF, or JSON. You must have Confluent Cloud Schema Registry configured if using a schema-based message format (for example, Avro, JSON_SR (JSON Schema), or Protobuf).

  • "tasks.max": Enter the number of tasks in use by the connector. Organizations can run multiple connectors with a limit of one task per connector (that is, "tasks.max": "1").

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-pushtopic-source.json

Example output:

Created connector SalesforcePushTopicSource_0 lcc-aj3qr

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-aj3qr   | SalesforcePushTopicSource_0      | 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.

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

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

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.

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 object to create topic for

  • Type: string
  • Importance: high
salesforce.push.topic.name

The Salesforce PushTopic to subscribe to. If salesforce.push.topic.create is set to true, a PushTopic with this name will be created.

  • Type: string
  • Importance: high
salesforce.push.topic.create

Flag to determine if the PushTopic should be created if it does not exist.

  • Type: boolean
  • Default: true
  • Importance: low
salesforce.push.topic.notify.create

Flag to determine if the Salesforce PushTopic should respond to creates. This config is used when salesforce.push.topic.create is set to true.

  • Type: boolean
  • Default: true
  • Importance: low
salesforce.push.topic.notify.delete

Flag to determine if the Salesforce PushTopic should respond to deletes. This config is used when salesforce.push.topic.create is set to true.

  • Type: boolean
  • Default: true
  • Importance: low
salesforce.push.topic.notify.undelete

Flag to determine if the Salesforce PushTopic should respond to undeletes. This config is used when salesforce.push.topic.create is set to true.

  • Type: boolean
  • Default: true
  • Importance: low
salesforce.push.topic.notify.update

Flag to determine if the Salesforce PushTopic should respond to updates. This config is used when salesforce.push.topic.create is set to true.

  • Type: boolean
  • Default: true
  • Importance: low

Connection details

salesforce.initial.start

Specify the initial starting point for the connector. Allowed values are

latest: only read events that arrive after the connector has started.

all: read all events starting from last 24 hours.

The default value is latest.

  • Type: string
  • Default: latest
  • Importance: medium
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
salesforce.version

The version of Salesforce API to use.

  • Type: string
  • Default: latest
  • Importance: low

Output messages

output.data.format

Sets the output Kafka record value format. Valid entries are AVRO, JSON_SR, PROTOBUF, or JSON. Note that you need to have Confluent Cloud Schema Registry configured if using a schema-based message format like AVRO, JSON_SR, and PROTOBUF

  • Type: string
  • Default: JSON
  • Importance: high

Number of tasks for this connector

tasks.max

Maximum number of tasks for the connector.

  • Type: int
  • Valid Values: [1,…,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.

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