Validate Schemas Broker-side in Confluent Platform

Schema ID Validation enables the broker to verify that data produced to a Kafka topic is using a valid schema ID in Schema Registry that is registered according to the subject naming strategy.

Schema Validation does not perform data introspection, but rather checks that the embedded magic byte in the Wire Format is registered in Schema Registry under a valid subject.

You must use a serializer and deserializer (serdes) that respect the Wire format, or use a Confluent supported serde, as described in Formats, Serializers, and Deserializers.

Tip

Schema ID Validation is also available on Confluent Cloud clusters using the hosted, per environment Schema Registry. To learn more, see Using Broker-Side Schema Validation on Confluent Cloud.

Prerequisites and Setting Schema Registry URLs on the Brokers

Basic requirements to run these examples are generally the same as those described for the Schema Registry Tutorial with the exception of Maven, which is not needed here. Also, Confluent Platform version 5.4.0 or later is required here.

As an additional prerequisite to enable Schema ID Validation on the brokers, you must specify confluent.schema.registry.url in the Kafka server.properties file ($CONFLUENT_HOME/etc/kafka/server.properties) before you start Confluent Platform. This tells the broker how to connect to Schema Registry.

For example:

confluent.schema.registry.url=http://schema-registry:8081

This configuration accepts a comma-separated list of URLs for Schema Registry instances. This setting is required to make Schema ID Validation available both from the Confluent CLI and on the Confluent Control Center.

Enabling Schema ID Validation on a topic from the Confluent CLI

You can enable Schema ID Validation on a topic when you create a topic or modify an existing topic.

Create a Topic with Schema ID Validation

To set Schema ID Validation on a topic when you create the topic, set confluent.value.schema.validation=true and confluent.key.schema.validation=true.

Value schema and key schema validation are independent of each other; you can enable either or both. (By default, schema validation is not enabled; both key and value schema validation default to false.)

For example, this command creates a topic called my-topic-sv with schema validation enabled on the value schema:

kafka-topics --create --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --replication-factor 1 \
--partitions 1 --topic my-topic-sv \
--config confluent.value.schema.validation=true

The output of this command is:

Created topic my-topic-sv.

With this configuration, if a message is produced to the topic my-topic-sv that does not have a valid schema for the value of the message, an error is returned to the producer, and the message is discarded.

If a batch of messages is sent, and at least one is invalid, then the entire batch is discarded.

Tip

• To learn more about value and key schemas, see Terminology in the Schema Registry tutorial.
• To learn how to create a schema for a topic, see Manage Schemas in Confluent Platform.

Add Schema ID Validation to an Existing Topic

Create a new topic called my-first-topic:

kafka-topics --create --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --replication-factor 1 --partitions 1 --topic my-first-topic

The output of this command is:

Created topic my-first-topic.

To change topic validation configuration on an existing topic (in this case from false to true), specify validation using the alter and --add-config flags as shown in this example:

kafka-configs --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --alter --entity-type topics --entity-name my-first-topic --add-config confluent.value.schema.validation=true

You should get this confirmation:

Completed updating config for topic 'my-first-topic'.

To disable topic validation on this topic (from true to false), rerun the above command with --add-config confluent.value.schema.validation=false.

Change the subject naming strategy for a topic

By default, Confluent Server uses the TopicNameStrategy as the naming strategy to map topics with schemas in Schema Registry.

Before Confluent Platform 5.5.0, the subject name strategy was configured on the brokers in server.properties, which required that you use the same strategy for all topics on a broker.

Starting with Confluent Platform 5.5.0, the naming strategy is associated with the topics. Therefore, you now have the option to configure a naming strategy to something other than the default on a per-topic basis for both the schema subject key and value with confluent.key.subject.name.strategy and confluent.value.subject.name.strategy.

From the Confluent CLI, use the --config option to create or modify a topic with the specified naming strategy. For example:

To create a topic that uses RecordNameStrategy for the value:

./bin/kafka-topics --create --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 \
--replication-factor 1 --partitions 1 --topic my-other-cool-topic \
--config confluent.value.schema.validation=true --config confluent.value.subject.name.strategy=io.confluent.kafka.serializers.subject.RecordNameStrategy

To modify a topic to use RecordNameStrategy as the key:

kafka-configs --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 \
--alter --entity-type topics --entity-name my-other-cool-topic \
--add-config confluent.key.subject.name.strategy=io.confluent.kafka.serializers.subject.RecordNameStrategy

The possible configurations for both confluent.value.subject.name.strategy and confluent.key.subject.name.strategy are:

• io.confluent.kafka.serializers.subject.TopicNameStrategy (the default)
• io.confluent.kafka.serializers.subject.RecordNameStrategy
• io.confluent.kafka.serializers.subject.TopicRecordNameStrategy

See also

Schemas, subjects, and topics.

Enabling Schema ID Validation on a topic in Confluent Control Center

You can view, enable, or disable Schema ID Validation on a topic in Control Center (see Manage Schemas in Confluent Platform in Control Center guide). Additionally, you can configure per-topic subject naming strategies.

View or Change Schema ID Validation settings for a topic

To view current configurations or enable Schema ID Validation on a topic from the Control Center (http://localhost:9021/):

1. Click the Configuration tab on an existing topic, and click Edit settings.

2. Click Switch to expert mode.

   

3. In Expert mode, change the settings for confluent.value.schema.validation and confluent.key.schema.validation from false to true.

   You may need to scroll down to find confluent.key.schema.validation.

   

4. Click Save changes.

Change the subject naming strategy for a topic

To change the subject naming strategy using Control Center:

1. On Control Center, select the topic to update, click Configuration, then click Switch to expert mode.

   Search for confluent.value.subject.name.strategy and confluent.key.subject.name.strategy.

   

2. Modify the settings and click Save changes.

The possible configurations for both confluent.value.subject.name.strategy and confluent.key.subject.name.strategy are:

• io.confluent.kafka.serializers.subject.TopicNameStrategy (the default)
• io.confluent.kafka.serializers.subject.RecordNameStrategy
• io.confluent.kafka.serializers.subject.TopicRecordNameStrategy

To learn more, see Change the subject naming strategy for a topic, which describes how to perform the same tasks on the Confluent CLI and gives more background information on the feature.

Demo: Enabling Schema ID Validation on a Topic at the Command Line

This short demo shows the effect of enabling or disabling schema validation on a topic.

If you are just getting started with Confluent Platform and Schema Registry, you might want to first work through the Tutorial: Use Schema Registry on Confluent Platform to Implement Schemas for a Client Application, then return to this demo.

The examples make use of the kafka-console-producer and kafka-console-consumer, which are located in $CONFLUENT_HOME/bin.

1. On a local install of Confluent Platform version 5.4.0 or later, modify $CONFLUENT_HOME/etc/kafka/server.properties to include the following configuration for the Schema Registry URL:

   ############################## My Schema Validation Demo Settings ################
   # Schema Registry URL
   confluent.schema.registry.url=http://localhost:8081
   

   The example above includes two lines of comments, which are optional, to keep track of the configurations in the file.

2. Start Confluent Platform using the following command:

   confluent local services start
   

   Tip

   • Alternatively, you can simply run confluent local services schema-registry start which also starts kafka and zookeeper as dependencies. This demo does not directly reference the other services, such as Connect and Control Center. That said, you may want to run the full stack anyway to further explore, for example, how the topics and messages display on Control Center. To learn more about confluent local, see Quick Start for Confluent Platform and confluent local in the Confluent CLI command reference.
   • The confluent local commands run in the background so you can re-use this command window. Separate sessions are required for the producer and consumer.

3. Create a test topic called test-schemas without specifying the Schema ID Validation setting so that it defaults to false.

   kafka-topics --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --create --partitions 1 --replication-factor 1 --topic test-schemas
   

   This creates a topic with no broker validation on records produced to the test topic, which is what you want for the first part of the demo. You can verify that the topic was created with kafka-topics --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --list.

4. In a new command window for the producer, run this command to produce a serialized record (using the default string serializer) to the topic test-schemas.

   kafka-console-producer --broker-list localhost:9092 --topic test-schemas --property parse.key=true --property key.separator=,
   

   The command is successful because you currently have Schema ID Validation disabled for this topic. If broker Schema ID Validation had been enabled for this topic, the above command to produce to it would not be permitted.

   The output of this command is a producer command prompt (>), where you can type the messages you want to produce.

   Type your first message at the > prompt as follows:

   1,my first record
   

   Keep this session of the producer running.

5. Open a new command window for the consumer, and enter this command to read the messages:

   kafka-console-consumer --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --from-beginning --topic test-schemas --property print.key=true
   

   The output of this command is my first record.

   Keep this session of the consumer running.

6. Now, set Schema ID Validation for the topic test-schemas to true.

   kafka-configs --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --alter --entity-type topics --entity-name test-schemas --add-config confluent.value.schema.validation=true
   

   You should get a confirmation: Completed updating config for topic test-schemas.

7. Return to the producer session, and type a second message at the > prompt.

   2,my second record
   

   You will get an error because Schema ID Validation is enabled and the messages we are sending do not contain schema IDs: This record has failed the validation on broker

   If you subsequently disable Schema ID Validation (use the same command to set it to false), restart the producer, then type and resend the same or another similarly formatted message, the message will go through. (For example, produce 3,my third record.)

   Tip

   As an alternative to restarting the producer in this last step (after switching schema validation back to false), you can simply type or copy-paste the suggested message 3,my third record on the blank line after the error and hit return. The consumer will pick it up, and you will then get the producer prompt back. However, this is an unintuitive workflow because there is no prompt showing after the error, and you may be tempted to hit return first, which will shut down the producer.

   The messages that were successfully produced also show on Control Center (http://localhost:9021/ in your web browser) in Topics > test-schemas > messages. You may have to select a partition or jump to a timestamp to see messages sent earlier.

   

8. Run shutdown and cleanup tasks.

   • You can stop the consumer and producer with Ctl-C in their respective command windows.
   • To stop Confluent Platform, type confluent local services stop.
   • If you would like to clear out existing data (topics, schemas, and messages) before starting again with another test, type confluent local destroy.

Configuring the range for valid schema IDs

Schema Validation tracks the maximum schema ID seen in Schema Registry. If a schema ID is seen that is too far above the maximum schema ID, it is automatically considered invalid. Since the maximum schema ID may be slightly out of date, you can configure an additional range above the maximum schema ID to allow Schema Validation to verify whether the schema ID exists in Schema Registry.

The property confluent.missing.id.query.range indicates the range above the maximum schema ID beyond which schemas are automatically considered invalid. The default value for confluent.missing.id.query.range is 200. With the default setting, if the schema ID is greater than the maximum schema ID plus 200, it is automatically considered invalid and an alert is triggered.

Configuring Security for Schema ID Validation

In general, Schema Registry initiates the connection to the brokers. Schema ID Validation is unique in that the broker(s) initiate the connection to Schema Registry. They do so in order to retrieve schemas from the registry, and verify that the messages they receive from producers match schemas associated with particular topics. With Schema ID Validation enabled, the sequence of tasks looks something like this:

1. A broker receives a message from a producer, and sees that it’s directed to a topic that has a schema associated.
2. The broker initiates a connection to Schema Registry.
3. The broker asks for the schema associated with the topic (by schema ID).
4. Schema Registry receives the request, finds the requested schema in its schema storage, and returns it to the broker.
5. The broker validates the schema ID.

Therefore, to set up security on a cluster that has broker-side Schema ID Validation enabled on topics, you must configure settings on the Kafka broker to support this broker-initiated connection to Schema Registry. For multiple brokers, each broker must be configured. For example, for mTLS, ideally you would have a different certificate for each broker.

Note that Schema Registry’s internal Kafka client to Kafka brokers is not relevant at all to the connection between broker-side Schema ID Validation and Schema Registry’s HTTP listeners. The security settings below do not reflect anything about the Schema Registry internal client-to-broker connection.

The broker configurations below include confluent.schema.registry.url, which tells the broker how to connect to Schema Registry. You may already have configured this on your brokers, as a prerequisite for using Schema Validation. The rest of the settings shown are specific to security configurations.

Tip

The sections below focus on security configurations on the brokers. For information about setting up security on Schema Registry, see Secure Schema Registry for Confluent Platform and related sections. For example, to set up Schema Registry to require clients (like brokers) to authenticate with a username and password, see Schema Registry under HTTP Basic Authentication.

mTLS (mutual TLS) Authentication

To configure mutual TLS (mTLS) authentication (also known as mTLS), the broker will authenticate to Schema Registry using TLS/SSL for authentication (certificates) and encryption.

Define the following settings in the broker properties file for each broker ($CONFLUENT_HOME/etc/kafka/server.properties).

confluent.schema.registry.url=https://<host>:<port>
confluent.ssl.truststore.location=<path to truststore file>
confluent.ssl.truststore.password=<password for the truststore if encrypted>
confluent.ssl.keystore.location=<path to file with private key for the broker>
confluent.ssl.keystore.password=<password to keystore file>
confluent.ssl.key.password=<password>

Basic Authentication

For this setup, the brokers are configured to authenticate to Schema Registry using basic authentication.

Define the following settings on each broker ($CONFLUENT_HOME/etc/kafka/server.properties).

confluent.schema.registry.url=http://<host>:<port>
confluent.basic.auth.credentials.source=<USER_INFO, URL, or SASL_INHERIT>
confluent.basic.auth.user.info=<username>:<password> #required only if credentials source is set to USER_INFO

• The property confluent.basic.auth.credentials.source defines the type of credentials to use (user name and passsword). These are literals, not variables.
• If you set confluent.basic.auth.credentials to USER_INFO, you must also specify confluent.basic.auth.user.info.

Basic Authentication with SSL

Define the following settings on each broker ($CONFLUENT_HOME/etc/kafka/server.properties).

confluent.schema.registry.url=https://<host>:<port>
confluent.basic.auth.credentials.source=USER_INFO
confluent.basic.auth.user.info=<username>:<password>
confluent.ssl.truststore.location=<path to the truststore file>
confluent.ssl.truststore.password=<password for the truststore if encrypted>

Role-based Access Control (RBAC) and ACLs

You can configure Role-Based Access Control (and/or ACLs) for authorization to Schema Registry, and use it with other types of security on the brokers.

The Schema Registry Security Plugin for Confluent Platform supports authorization for both RBAC and ACLs.

Configure the Brokers

Define the appropriate settings on the brokers similar to those shown in previous sections, depending on the type of security. For example, for basic authentication, the broker properties files would contain:

confluent.schema.registry.url=http://<host>:<port>
confluent.basic.auth.credentials.source=USER_INFO
confluent.basic.auth.user.info=<username>:<password> #required only if credentials source is set to USER_INFO

Set RBAC Role Bindings to Allow Access to Schema Registry

At a minimum, in terms of defining RBAC role bindings, Schema Registry needs the following IAM assignment:

confluent iam rbac role-binding list --principal User:<user-id> \
--role DeveloperRead --kafka-cluster-id <kafka-cluster-id> \
--resource Subject:* --schema-registry-cluster-id <schema-registry-group-id>

The Schema Registry cluster ID is the same as schema-registry-group-id, which defaults to schema-registry.

License

A Confluent Enterprise license is required for broker-side Schema ID Validation.

To learn more, see License on the main page of this Schema Registry documentation.

Related Content

• Blog post: Schema Validation with Confluent Platform 5.4
• Schema ID Validation and Replicator explains how Schema ID Validation interacts with Replicator configurations used for replicating data from one cluster to another