<a id="connect-managing-config-connectors"></a>

# Configure Self-Managed Connectors for Confluent Platform

Connector configurations are key-value mappings. For standalone mode, these are
defined in a properties file and passed to the Connect process through the
command line. In distributed mode, they are included in the JSON payload sent
over the [REST API](monitoring.html#connect-managing-rest-examples) for the
request that creates (or modifies) the connector. Confluent recommends you
review the [Getting Started](userguide.html#connect-standalone-v-distributed)
guide before deploying in standalone or distributed mode.

You can configure standalone and distributed connectors using the
[Confluent Control Center](/control-center/current/connect.html) which gives a
graphical interface to update connector configurations. Most configurations are
connector dependent. The following settings, however, are common to all
connectors:

- `name`: A unique name for the connector. If you attempt to register again with the
  same name, you will receive an error.
- `connector.class`: The Java class for the connector.
- `tasks.max`: The maximum number of tasks that should be created for this
  connector. The connector may create fewer tasks if it cannot achieve this
  level of parallelism.
- `key.converter`: (Optional) Use this parameter to override the default key
  converter class set by the worker.
- `value.converter`: (Optional) Use this parameter to override the default
  value converter class set by the worker.

To pass configuration parameters to key and value converters, prefix them with
`key.converter.*` or `value.converter.*` as you would in the worker
configuration when defining default converters. Note that these are only used
when the corresponding converter configuration is specified in the
`key.converter` or `value.converter` properties. Note that these parameters
are not used unless the corresponding converter configuration is specified in
the connector configuration. For more details, see the [Getting Started guide](userguide.html#connect-standalone-v-distributed). For detailed information
about converters, see [Configuring key and value converters](userguide.md#connect-configuring-converters), and for details
about producer and consumer settings, see
[Connect producers and consumers](userguide.md#connect-override-producer-consumer).

<a id="connect-managing-standalone-mode"></a>

## Standalone example

The following is an example of a standalone connector configuration for the
supported FileSink connector. Note the common configurations `name`,
`connector.class`, `tasks.max`, and `topics`, and one
FileStreamSinkConnector specific configuration `file` is specified.  The file
containing this configuration should be added as shown in the [Getting Started](userguide.html#connect-userguide-standalone-config) guide.

```bash
name=local-file-sink
connector.class=FileStreamSinkConnector
tasks.max=1
file=test.sink.txt
topics=connect-test
```

<a id="connect-managing-distributed-mode"></a>

## Distributed example

You can use the REST API to manage the connectors running on workers in
distributed mode. Here is a simple example that creates a FileSink connector as
in the standalone example. Note the URL is pointing to localhost indicating that
the Connect worker has been started on the same host where the `curl`
command is run. For help with starting a worker in distributed mode, see the
[Getting Started guide](userguide.html#connect-userguide-distributed-config).

```bash
  curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" --data '{"name": "local-file-sink", "config": {"connector.class":"FileStreamSinkConnector", "tasks.max":"1", "file":"test.sink.txt", "topics":"connect-test" }}' http://localhost:8083/connectors
# Or, to use a file containing the JSON-formatted configuration
# curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" --data @config.json http://localhost:8083/connectors
```

To create a connector, you start the workers and then make a REST request to
create a connector as shown previously. Unlike many other systems, all nodes in
Kafka Connect can respond to REST requests, including creating, listing,
modifying, and destroying connectors (for details, see the [REST
API](/platform/current/connect/references/restapi.html) section).

## Confluent Platform license

Confluent’s commercial connectors require an [enterprise, development,
or 30-day trial license](/platform/current/installation/license.html#license-types).
Prior to Confluent Platform version 6.0, each connector configuration required several
license-related properties. This continues to be an option in Confluent Platform versions 6.0
and later. However, starting with Confluent Platform version 6.0, you can put all required
license-related properties in the Connect worker configuration instead of in
each connector configuration. For more details, see the [licensing](license.md#connect-license) topic.

## Related content

- [Kafka Connect FileStream Connectors for Confluent Platform](filestream_connector.md#connect-filestreamconnector)
- [Common connector configuration properties](references/connector-configs.md#connector-configs)
- [Kafka Connect FAQ for Confluent Platform](faq.md#connect-faq)