How to connect to Kafka Data from IntelliJ

The CData JDBC Driver for Kafka enables you to access Kafka as a JDBC data source, providing integration with rapid development tools in IDEs. This article shows how to use the data source configuration wizard to connect to Kafka data in IntelliJ.

Create a JBDC Data Source for Kafka

Follow the steps below to add the driver JAR and define connection properties required to connect to Kafka data.

1. In the Data Sources window, right-click and then click Add Data Source -> DB Data Source.

2. In the Data Source Properties dialog that appears, the following properties are required:

   • JDBC Driver Files: Click the button next to this menu to add the JDBC Driver file cdata.jdbc.apachekafka.jar, located in the installation directory.
   • JDBC Driver Class: In this menu, select cdata.jdbc.apachekafka.ApacheKafkaDriver from the list.

   • Database URL: Enter the connection URL in the JDBC URL property. The URL must start with jdbc:apachekafka: and includes connection properties separated with semicolons.

     Set BootstrapServers and the Topic properties to specify the address of your Apache Kafka server, as well as the topic you would like to interact with.

     Authorization Mechanisms

     • SASL Plain: The User and Password properties should be specified. AuthScheme should be set to 'Plain'.
     • SASL SSL: The User and Password properties should be specified. AuthScheme should be set to 'Scram'. UseSSL should be set to true.
     • SSL: The SSLCert and SSLCertPassword properties should be specified. UseSSL should be set to true.
     • Kerberos: The User and Password properties should be specified. AuthScheme should be set to 'Kerberos'.

     You may be required to trust the server certificate. In such cases, specify the TrustStorePath and the TrustStorePassword if necessary.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

     For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Kafka JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.apachekafka.jar
     

     Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

     👁 Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (Salesforce is shown.)
     

     A typical JDBC URL is the following:

     jdbc:apachekafka:User=admin;Password=pass;BootStrapServers=https://localhost:9091;Topic=MyTopic;

Edit and Save Kafka Data

To discover schema information, right-click the data source you just created and click Refresh Tables. To query a table, right-click it and then click Open Tables Editor. You can also modify records in the Table Editor.