README.md

DataStax CDC for Apache Kafka

Below is a guide for running and validating the DataStax Enterprise CDC Connector for Apache Kafka. This builds on the excellent foundation of the DataStax Apache Kafka Connector by adding CDC functionality as a Source Connector.

Install Dependencies

1. Install Docker
2. Install Docker Compose
3. Check out a copy of this repository
4. Download kafaka-connect-dse-2.0.0-20190925-LABS.jar from DataStax Labs and place it within this directory.

Start the DataStax Enterprise and Apache Kafka Components

Note that the Source functionality of this connector will ONLY work with a specific Labs Edition build of DataStax Enterprise 6.8.0. This build is currently only available as a Docker container at datastaxlabs/dse-cdc-server. This container is referenced in the Docker Compose configuration file in this directory. This container does not have to be run within Docker compose, it's included here as a way to ease testing efforts.

This container does have modified cassandra.yaml and dse.yaml files. cassandra.yaml has been tuned to reduce the periodic commit log sync to 500ms and enable CDC. dse.yaml has DSE Advanced Replication enabled.

1. Start up the stack docker-compose up -d

If for some reason a component does not come up due to the order of containers being started try running the command again.

Configure DataStax Enterprise for Replication to Kafka

DataStax Enterprise Advanced Replication underpins the deduplication and replication of mutations for a set of source tables, through a replication channel, and to a destination. In this setup we must create a keyspace and table to write messages to. Followed by a DSE Advanced Replication Destination and Channel.

1. Configure DSE schema

   docker-compose exec dse cqlsh
   

   CREATE KEYSPACE demo_ks WITH replication = {'class': 'NetworkTopologyStrategy', 'dc1': 1};
   CREATE TABLE demo_ks.demo_table (
     k TEXT,
     v TEXT,
     PRIMARY KEY ((k))
   );
   

2. Enable DSE Advanced Replication Destination for Kafka

   docker-compose exec dse dse advrep destination create --name demo_destination --transmission-enabled true
   docker-compose exec dse dse advrep destination list
   

3. Enable DSE Advanced Replication Channel for demo_ks.demo_table

   docker-compose exec dse dse advrep channel create --data-center-id dc1 --source-keyspace demo_ks --source-table demo_table --destination demo_destination --transmission-enabled true --collection-enabled true
   docker-compose exec dse dse advrep channel status
   

Configure Kafka and the Connector

With everything configured within DSE it is now time to create a topic to receive our mutations and an instance of the connector to process the CDC messages.

1. Connect to the Confluent Control Panel http://localhost:9021/

2. Select the only cluster

   

3. Click "Topics" in the left sidebar

   

4. Click "Add a topic" in the top right corner

5. Enter the following parameters then click "Create with defaults"

   Topic name: demo-topic Number of partitions: 1

   

6. Open "Connect" in the left sidebar

7. Click "connect-default"

8. Click "Add Connector"

9. Click "Connect" under "DseSourceConnector"

   

10. Enter the following parameters and click "Continue"

    Name: demo-connector Tasks max: 1 Key converter class: JsonConverter Value converter class: JsonConverter topic: demo-topic destination: demo_destination contact_points: dse

    

11. Verify configuration parameters and click "Launch"

    

Insert data to be replicated

1. Start cqlsh and insert data

   docker-compose exec dse cqlsh
   

   INSERT INTO demo_ks.demo_table (k, v) VALUES ('a', 'b');
   INSERT INTO demo_ks.demo_table (k, v) VALUES ('c', 'd');
   INSERT INTO demo_ks.demo_table (k, v) VALUES ('e', 'f');
   

Validate behavior

1. Look in to number of messages waiting to be replicated

   docker-compose exec dse dse advrep replog count --source-keyspace demo_ks --source-table demo_table --destination demo_destination
   

2. Navigate to the topic view in the confluent control center

3. Click "Topics" in the left side bar

4. Select "demo-topic" from the list

5. Validate messages are being produced and consumed

6. Optionally look at the messages

   

   Note the record structure:

   • Key: JSON object representing all primary key columns
   • Value: JSON object representing all non-primary key columns
   • Timestamp: Microsecond timestamp of the mutation converted to milliseconds
   • Headers: Includes the keyspace name, table name, and replication type (INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE)

Limitations

• The DSE Kafka Connector with CDC is not recommended nor supported for production use. This release is an early preview of an unfinished product intended to allow proof of concept deployments and to facilitate early customer feedback into the software development process.
• The DSE Kafka Connector with CDC is compatible only with a specific DSE docker image co-hosted in the labs Docker Hub repository.
• Messages are replicated AFTER the mutation is fsync'd out to disk within the commitlog. By default this is every 10 seconds. This may be adjusted by changing the value of "commitlog_sync_period_in_ms" in cassandra.yaml. With an appropriate storage device backing your commitlog (read: SSD) values in the 500ms to 3000ms are permitted.
• The DSE Kafka connector with CDC is built on the foundations of DataStax Enterprise Advanced Replication. With that in mind non-frozen collections and user-defined types are NOT supported. See the Advanced Replication Data Types documentation for more information.
• At this time it is not possible to run both Cassandra and Kafka CDC based Advanced Replication destinations simultaneously. To prevent any issues from occurring Cassandra based replication within DSE Advanced Replication is disabled.