Integrate Kadeck Kafka UI with Confluent Cloud

Integrate Kadeck with Confluent Cloud for new insights into Kafka data & performance

June 13, 2023

The Kadeck Apache Kafka UI makes it easy to observe, test, troubleshoot, and monitor Kafka data and the health of your Kafka topics, consumers, and clusters on Confluent Cloud.

Kadeck works perfectly together with Confluent Cloud’s Apache Kafka clusters and other Kafka components, such as Schema Registry. This article will walk you through the necessary steps to create a connection to Confluent Cloud’s Apache Kafka cluster and Schema Registry in Kadeck.

If you're not already using Kadeck as an Apache Kafka UI, you can get Kadeck here and use it for free.

Connect Kadeck to Confluent Cloud

After starting Kadeck, click on + Add Connection on the welcome screen.

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Select Apache Kafka as your preferred connection type.

After choosing Apache Kafka, you have two ways to connect to your Confluent Cloud account: You can either use the Kadeck Connection Wizard tool or you can configure your cluster connection manually.

To use the Wizard, click on Connection Wizard and select Confluent Cloud. To configure your connection manually, start by entering a name in the “Connection Name” input field. This name will help you to identify the new connection if you have configured multiple connections in Kadeck.

Using the Kadeck Connection Wizard (recommended)

When using the Kadeck Kafka UI connection wizard, you first need to log into your Confluent Cloud account and access your existing cluster. To do so, please follow the path Environments > Clusters and click on the cluster that you want to create the connection for. Next click on Clients in the left menu. Select Java to get to the connection configuration details that we will use in the Connection Wizard in Kadeck.

Next, you need to copy the whole configuration snippet for the Cluster from below on the same page. If you are not managing the clusters yourself, you should ask the person in charge to provide you with the corresponding configuration settings.

Note: if you start with a fresh cluster, the configuration might contain placeholders for your API keys. Make sure to create the API keys first before copying the snippet over to Kadeck.

Return to the Kadeck Kafka UI connection wizard for Confluent Cloud Wizard and paste the configuration settings into the configuration field of step 3. After you’ve entered the configuration, press confirm. The cluster address should now appear in the “Bootstrap Server” text field.

Once you have clicked “Create” in the Connection dialog, you should see the connection appear as a new card. Click “Connect” to connect to Confluent.

Congratulations on connecting your first cluster to Kadeck!

Manually configure your cluster connection

Log into your Confluent Cloud account and access your existing cluster. Click on Environments > Clusters and select the cluster you want to create a connection for. Select “Clients” in the left menu and click on Java.

After choosing Java, you will be prompted to create new API credentials and copy the configuration. If you do not have access to this, please ask the person in charge for the necessary API credentials and configuration settings.

When you switch to Kadeck, you put the configuration from line 2 (bootstrap.servers) into the Bootstrap Server text field and click on Security & Authentication. As the security protocol in line 3 tells you, you need to choose SASL_SSL in the Security Protocol field. Now, you copy the whole snippet from line 4 and paste it into the Sasl Jaas config (optional) box. The Sasl mechanism is defined in line 5 as plain, which is also the default in Kadeck, so no need to change there. We are finished here and can jump right into the Schema Registry tab as you can see below.

In the Schema Registry tab, you open Security & Authentication again and copy the Schema Registry URL from line 16 and paste it into Kadeck. In the lines under you can see the type of auth credentials you got and choose the right option in Kadeck (here: Basic Auth).

Now, you need to put in your api_key and api_secret that you created before into the Credentials (optional) textbox, set apart by a “:”.

Upon completion, you can press Create in the bottom right corner and should be ready to Connect your Cluster in Kadeck. To do so, just press the Connect Button, you should then see it change into the grey “Disconnect” Button.

Congratulations on connecting your cluster to Kadeck!

Integrate Kadeck Kafka UI with Confluent Cloud

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