Stream Lakebase Data into Apache Kafka Topics

Apache Kafka is an open-source stream processing platform that is primarily used for building real-time data pipelines and event-driven applications. When paired with the CData JDBC Driver for Lakebase, Kafka can work with live Lakebase data. This article describes how to connect, access and stream Lakebase data into Apache Kafka Topics and to start Confluent Control Center to help users secure, manage, and monitor the Lakebase data received using Kafka infrastructure in the Confluent Platform.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Lakebase data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Lakebase, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Lakebase and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations). Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze Lakebase data using native data types.

Prerequisites

Before connecting the CData JDBC Driver for streaming Lakebase data in Apache Kafka Topics, install and configure the following in the client Linux-based system.

1. Confluent Platform for Apache Kafka
2. Confluent Hub CLI Installation
3. Self-Managed Kafka JDBC Source Connector for Confluent Platform

Define a New JDBC Connection to Lakebase data

1. Download CData JDBC Driver for Lakebase on a Linux-based system
2. Follow the given instructions to create a new directory extract all the driver contents into it:
   1. Create a new directory named Lakebase

      		mkdir Lakebase
      		

   2. Move the downloaded driver file (.zip) into this new directory

      		mv LakebaseJDBCDriver.zip Lakebase/
      		

   3. Unzip the CData LakebaseJDBCDriver contents into this new directory

      		unzip LakebaseJDBCDriver.zip
      		

3. Open the Lakebase directory and navigate to the lib folder

   ls
   cd lib/
   

4. Copy the contents of the lib folder of the CData JDBC Driver for Lakebase into the lib folder of Kafka Connect JDBC. Check the Kafka Connect JDBC folder contents to confirm that the cdata.jdbc.lakebase.jar file is successfully copied into the lib folder

   cp -r /path/to/CData JDBC Driver for Lakebase/lib/* /usr/share/confluent-hub-components/confluentinc-kafka-connect-jdbc/lib/
   cd /usr/share/confluent-hub-components/confluentinc-kafka-connect-jdbc/lib/
   

5. Install the CData Lakebase JDBC driver license using the given command, followed by your Name and Email ID

   	java -jar cdata.jdbc.lakebase.jar -l
   	

6. Enter the product key or "TRIAL" (In the scenarios of license expiry, please contact our CData Support team)
7. Start the Confluent local services using the command:

   	confluent local services start
   	

   This starts all the Confluent Services like Zookeeper, Kafka, Schema Registry, Kafka REST, Kafka CONNECT, ksqlDB and Control Center. You are now ready to use the CData JDBC driver for Lakebase to stream messages using Kafka Connect Driver into Kafka Topics on ksqlDB.

   👁 Start the Confluent local services
   
8. Create the Kafka topics manually using a POST HTTP API Request:

    curl --location 'server_address:8083/connectors' 
   	--header 'Content-Type: application/json'
   	--data '{ 
   		"name": "jdbc_source_cdata_lakebase_01", 
   		"config": { 
   			"connector.class": "io.confluent.connect.jdbc.JdbcSourceConnector", 
   			"connection.url": "jdbc:lakebase:DatabricksInstance=lakebase;Server=127.0.0.1;Port=5432;Database=my_database;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;",
   		"topic.prefix": "lakebase-01-", 
   		"mode": "bulk" 
   		} 
   	}'
   

   Let us understand the fields used in the HTTP POST body (shown above):

   • connector.class: Specifies the Java class of the Kafka Connect connector to be used.
   • connection.url: The JDBC connection URL to connect with Lakebase data.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

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

     		java -jar cdata.jdbc.lakebase.jar
     		

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

     To connect to Databricks Lakebase, start by setting the following properties:
     • DatabricksInstance: The Databricks instance or server hostname, provided in the format instance-abcdef12-3456-7890-abcd-abcdef123456.database.cloud.databricks.com.
     • Server: The host name or IP address of the server hosting the Lakebase database.
     • Port (optional): The port of the server hosting the Lakebase database, set to 5432 by default.
     • Database (optional): The database to connect to after authenticating to the Lakebase Server, set to the authenticating user's default database by default.

     OAuth Client Authentication

     To authenicate using OAuth client credentials, you need to configure an OAuth client in your service principal. In short, you need to do the following:

     1. Create and configure a new service principal
     2. Assign permissions to the service principal
     3. Create an OAuth secret for the service principal

     For more information, refer to the Setting Up OAuthClient Authentication section in the Help documentation.

     OAuth PKCE Authentication

     To authenticate using the OAuth code type with PKCE (Proof Key for Code Exchange), set the following properties:

     • AuthScheme: OAuthPKCE.
     • User: The authenticating user's user ID.

     For more information, refer to the Help documentation.

     👁 Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (Salesforce is shown.)
     
   • topic.prefix: A prefix that will be added to the Kafka topics created by the connector. It's set to "lakebase-01-".
   • mode: Specifies the mode in which the connector operates. In this case, it's set to "bulk", which suggests that the connector is configured to perform bulk data transfer.

   This request adds all the tables/contents from Lakebase as Kafka Topics.

   Note: The IP Address (server) to POST the request (shown above) is the Linux Network IP Address.

9. Run ksqlDB and list the topics. Use the commands:

   ksql
   list topics;
   

   👁 List the Kafka Topics (BigCommerce is shown)
   
10. To view the data inside the topics, type the SQL Statement:

    PRINT topic FROM BEGINNING;
    

Connecting with the Confluent Control Center

To access the Confluent Control Center user interface, ensure to run the "confluent local services" as described in the above section and type http://<server address>:9021/clusters/ on your local browser.

Get Started Today

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Lakebase and start streaming Lakebase data into Apache Kafka. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.