Important

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Dynamic Configs

Some of the broker and topic configs can be updated without restarting the broker. This section talks about updating these configuration options dynamically and securing password configs by storing them in encrypted form in ZooKeeper.

Changing Broker Configs Dynamically

Some of the broker configs can be updated without restarting the broker. See the Dynamic Update Mode option in Broker Configurations for the update mode of each broker config.

  • read-only: Requires a broker restart for update
  • per-broker: May be updated dynamically for each broker
  • cluster-wide: May be updated dynamically as a cluster-wide default. May also be updated as a per-broker value for testing.

To alter the current broker configs for broker ID 0 (for example, the number of log cleaner threads):

bin/kafka-configs --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --entity-type brokers --entity-name 0 --alter --add-config log.cleaner.threads=2

To describe the current dynamic broker configs for broker ID 0:

bin/kafka-configs --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --entity-type brokers --entity-name 0 --describe

To delete a config override and revert to the statically configured or default value for broker ID 0 (for example, the number of log cleaner threads):

bin/kafka-configs --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --entity-type brokers --entity-name 0 --alter --delete-config log.cleaner.threads

Some configs may be configured as a cluster-wide default to maintain consistent values across the whole cluster. All brokers in the cluster will process the cluster default update. For example, to update log cleaner threads on all brokers:

bin/kafka-configs --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --entity-type brokers --entity-default --alter --add-config log.cleaner.threads=2

To describe the currently configured dynamic cluster-wide default configs:

bin/kafka-configs --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --entity-type brokers --entity-default --describe

All configs that are configurable at cluster level may also be configured at per-broker level (e.g. for testing). If a config value is defined at different levels, the following order of precedence is used:

  • Dynamic per-broker config stored in ZooKeeper
  • Dynamic cluster-wide default config stored in ZooKeeper
  • Static broker config from server.properties
  • Apache Kafka® default, see broker configs

Updating Password Configs Dynamically

Password config values that are dynamically updated are encrypted before storing in ZooKeeper. The broker config password.encoder.secret must be configured in server.properties to enable dynamic update of password configs. The secret may be different on different brokers.

The secret used for password encoding may be rotated with a rolling restart of brokers. The old secret used for encoding passwords currently in ZooKeeper must be provided in the static broker config password.encoder.old.secret and the new secret must be provided in password.encoder.secret. All dynamic password configs stored in ZooKeeper will be re-encoded with the new secret when the broker starts up.

In the current version, all dynamically updated password configs must be provided in every alter request when updating configs using kafka-configs even if the password config is not being altered. This constraint will be removed in a future release.

Updating Password Configs in ZooKeeper Before Starting Brokers

kafka-configs enables dynamic broker configs to be updated using ZooKeeper before starting brokers for bootstrapping. This enables all password configs to be stored in encrypted form, avoiding the need for clear passwords in server.properties. The broker config password.encoder.secret must also be specified if any password configs are included in the alter command. Additional encryption parameters may also be specified. Password encoder configs will not be persisted in ZooKeeper. For example, to store SSL key password for listener INTERNAL on broker 0:

bin/kafka-configs --zookeeper localhost:2181 --entity-type brokers --entity-name 0 --alter --add-config \
'listener.name.internal.ssl.key.password=key-password,password.encoder.secret=secret,password.encoder.iterations=8192'

The configuration listener.name.internal.ssl.key.password will be persisted in ZooKeeper in encrypted form using the provided encoder configs. The encoder secret and iterations are not persisted in ZooKeeper.

Updating SSL Keystore of an Existing Listener

Brokers may be configured with SSL keystores with short validity periods to reduce the risk of compromised certificates. Keystores may be updated dynamically without restarting the broker. The config name must be prefixed with the listener prefix listener.name.{listenerName}. so that only the keystore config of a specific listener is updated. The following configs may be updated in a single alter request at per-broker level:

  • ssl.keystore.type
  • ssl.keystore.location
  • ssl.keystore.password
  • ssl.key.password

If the listener is the inter-broker listener, the update is allowed only if the new keystore is trusted by the truststore configured for that listener. For other listeners, no trust validation is performed on the keystore by the broker. Certificates must be signed by the same certificate authority that signed the old certificate to avoid any client authentication failures.

Updating SSL Truststore of an Existing Listener

Broker truststores may be updated dynamically without restarting the broker to add or remove certificates. Updated truststore will be used to authenticate new client connections. The config name must be prefixed with the listener prefix listener.name.{listenerName}. so that only the truststore config of a specific listener is updated. The following configs may be updated in a single alter request at per-broker level:

  • ssl.truststore.type
  • ssl.truststore.location
  • ssl.truststore.password

If the listener is the inter-broker listener, the update is allowed only if the existing keystore for that listener is trusted by the new truststore. For other listeners, no trust validation is performed by the broker before the update. Removal of CA certificates used to sign client certificates from the new truststore can lead to client authentication failures.

Changing Topic Configs Dynamically

Many config settings in Kafka are static and are wired through the properties file. However, there are several settings that you can change per topic. These settings can be changed dynamically using the <path-to-confluent>/bin/kafka-topics tool without having to restart the brokers. When changed using the kafka-topics tool, each change is persistent and remains through broker restarts.

Here are some per-topic configs that you can change.

cleanup.policy

Indicates whether old segments in the log are deleted or deduplicated.

  • Type: string
  • Default delete
  • Importance: Medium

flush.messages

The number of messages that can be written to the log before a flush is forced.

  • Type: long
  • Default: Long.MAX_VALUE
  • Importance: Medium

flush.ms

The amount of time the log can have dirty data before a flush is forced.

  • Type: long
  • Default: Long.MAX_VALUE
  • Importance: Medium

max.message.bytes

The maximum size of a message.

  • Type: int
  • Default: Integer.MAX_VALUE
  • Importance: Medium

min.insync.replicas

If the number of insync replicas drops below this number, Kafka stops accepting writes with -1 (or all) request.required.acks.

  • Type: int
  • Default: 1
  • Importance: High

retention.bytes

The maximum size a log partition can grow to before old log segments are discarded to free up space. This only applies if the “delete” retention policy is used.

  • Type: long
  • Default: Long.MAX_VALUE
  • Importance: Low

retention.ms

The maximum time a log is retained before old log segments are discarded. This only applies if the “delete” retention policy is used.

  • Type: long
  • Default: Long.MAX_VALUE
  • Importance: Low

segment.bytes

The hard maximum for the size of a segment file in the log.

  • Type: int
  • Default: 1073741824
  • Importance: Low |

segment.jitter.ms

The maximum random jitter subtracted from the scheduled segment roll time to avoid segment rolling.

  • Type: long
  • Default: 0L
  • Importance: Low

segment.ms

The soft maximum on the amount of time before a new log segment is rolled.

  • Type: long
  • Default: Long.MAX_VALUE
  • Importance: Low

unclean.leader.election.enable

Indicates whether unclean leader election is enabled. If it is, then a leader may be moved to a replica that is not insync with the leader when all insync replicas are not available, leading to possible data loss.

  • Type: boolean
  • Default: false
  • Importance: High