Automated Continuous DB2 for i Replication to Apache Kafka

Always-on applications rely on automatic failover capabilities and real-time data access. CData Sync integrates live DB2 for i data into your Apache Kafka instance, allowing you to consolidate all of your data into a single location for archiving, reporting, analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence and more.

Configure Apache Kafka as a Replication Destination

Using CData Sync, you can replicate DB2 for i data to Apache Kafka. To add a replication destination, navigate to the Connections tab.

1. Click Add Connection. 👁 Add a new connection.
   
2. Select the Destinations tab and locate the Apache Kafka connector. 👁 Configure a Destination connection to Apache Kafka.
   
3. Click the Configure Connection icon at the end of that row to open the New Connection page. If the Configure Connection icon is not available, click the Download Connector icon to install the Apache Kafka connector. For more information about installing new connectors, see Connections in the Help documentation.
4. To connect to Apache Kafka, set the following connection properties:
   • Connection Name: Enter a connection name of your choice for the Apache Kafka connection.
   • Bootstrap Servers: Enter the address of the Apache Kafka Bootstrap servers to which you want to connect.
   • Auth Scheme: Select the authentication scheme. Plain is the default setting. For this setting, specify your login credentials:
   • User: Enter the username that you use to authenticate to Apache Kafka.
   • Password: Enter the password that you use to authenticate to Apache Kafka.
   • Type Detection Scheme: Specify the detection-scheme type (None, RowScan, SchemaRegistry, or MessageOnly) that you want to use. The default type is None.
   • Registry Url: Enter the URL to the server for the schema registry.
   • Registry Service: Select the Schema Registry service that you want to use for working with topic schemas.
   • Registry Auth Scheme: Select the scheme that you want to use to authenticate to the schema registry.
   • Use SSL: Specify whether you want to use the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol. The default value is False.
👁 Enter the connection details.

5. Once connected, click Create & Test to create, test and save the connection.

You are now connected to Apache Kafka and can use it as both a source and a destination.

NOTE: You can use the Label feature to add a label for a source or a destination.

👁 Add a label.

In this article, we will demonstrate how to load DB2 for i data into Apache Kafka and utilize it as a destination.

Configure the DB2 for i Connection

You can configure a connection to DB2 for i from the Connections tab. To add a connection to your DB2 for i account, navigate to the Connections tab.

1. Click Add Connection.
2. Select a source (DB2 for i).
3. Configure the connection properties.
   
   

   Prerequisites

   Before setting up the DB2 for i source connector, configure DB2 for i for change data capture (CDC) using journal receivers. The following capabilities aren't supported in Sync:

   • Remote journals or failover functionality.
   • Large object types such as CLOB, XML, TEXT, and BLOB.

   Authenticate to DB2 for i

   Set the following required properties:

   • Server: The address or host name of the DB2 for i server. The default server is localhost.
   • Database: The name of your DB2 for i database.
   • Port: The port number for your server. The default port is 446.
   • User: The username that authenticates to the DB2 for i database.
   • Password: The password that authenticates to the DB2 for i database.

   For details on journal/schema selection and creating a CDC job, refer to the Help documentation.

   👁 Configuring a Source connection (Salesforce is shown).
   
4. Click Connect to DB2 for i to ensure that the connection is configured properly.
5. Click Save & Test to save the changes.

Configure Replication Queries

CData Sync enables you to control replication with a point-and-click interface and with SQL queries. For each replication you wish to configure, navigate to the Jobs tab and click Add Job. Select the Source and Destination for your replication.

👁 Select Source and Destination connections for the replication.

Replicate Entire Tables

To replicate an entire table, navigate to the Task tab in the Job, click Add Tasks, choose the table(s) from the list of DB2 for i tables you wish to replicate into Apache Kafka, and click Add Tasks again.

👁 Choose entire tables to replicate (Salesforce is shown).

Customize Your Replication

You can use the Columns and Query tabs of a task to customize your replication. The Columns tab allows you to specify which columns to replicate, rename the columns at the destination, and even perform operations on the source data before replicating. The Query tab allows you to add filters, grouping, and sorting to the replication with the help of SQL queries. 👁 Configure a replication Transform.

Schedule Your Replication

Select the Overview tab in the Job, and click Configure under Schedule. You can schedule a job to run automatically by configuring it to run at specified intervals, ranging from once every 10 minutes to once every month.

👁 Schedule your job to run automatically.

Once you have configured the replication job, click Save Changes. You can configure any number of jobs to manage the replication of your DB2 for i data to Apache Kafka.

Run the Replication Job

Once all the required configurations are made for the job, select the DB2 for i table you wish to replicate and click Run. After the replication completes successfully, a notification appears, showing the time taken to run the job and the number of rows replicated.

👁 Run the job.

Free Trial & More Information

Now that you have seen how to replicate DB2 for i data into Apache Kafka, visit our CData Sync page to explore more about CData Sync and download a free 30-day trial. Start consolidating your enterprise data today!

As always, our world-class Support Team is ready to answer any questions you may have.