# imkafka: read from Apache Kafka

Module Name: | imkafka
Author: | Andre Lorbach <alorbach@adiscon.com>
Available since: | 8.27.0

## Purpose

The imkafka plug-in implements an Apache Kafka consumer, permitting rsyslog to receive data from Kafka.

## Configuration Parameters

Note that imkafka supports some Array-type parameters. While the parameter name can only be set once, it is possible to set multiple values with that single parameter.

For example, to select a broker, you can use

    input(type="imkafka" topic="mytopic" broker="localhost:9092" consumergroup="default")

which is equivalent to

    input(type="imkafka" topic="mytopic" broker=["localhost:9092"] consumergroup="default")

To specify multiple values, just use the bracket notation and create a comma-delimited list of values as shown here:

    input(type="imkafka" topic="mytopic"
           broker=["localhost:9092",
                   "localhost:9093",
                   "localhost:9094"]
          )

Note

Parameter names are case-insensitive.

### Module Parameters

Currently none.

### Action Parameters

#### Broker

type | default | mandatory | `obsolete legacy` directive
--- | --- | --- | ---
array | localhost:9092 | no | none

Specifies the broker(s) to use.

#### Topic

type | default | mandatory | `obsolete legacy` directive
--- | --- | --- | ---
string | none | yes | none

Specifies the topic to produce to.

#### ConfParam

type | default | mandatory | `obsolete legacy` directive
--- | --- | --- | ---
array | none | no | none

Permits to specify Kafka options. Rather than offering a myriad of config settings to match the Kafka parameters, we provide this setting here as a vehicle to set any Kafka parameter. This has the big advantage that Kafka parameters that come up in new releases can immediately be used.

Note that we use librdkafka for the Kafka connection, so the parameters are actually those that librdkafka supports. As of our understanding, this is a superset of the native Kafka parameters.

#### ConsumerGroup

type | default | mandatory | `obsolete legacy` directive
--- | --- | --- | ---
string | none | no | none

With this parameter the group.id for the consumer is set. All consumers sharing the same group.id belong to the same group.

#### Ruleset

type | default | mandatory | `obsolete legacy` directive
--- | --- | --- | ---
string | none | no | none

Specifies the ruleset to be used.

#### ParseHostname

type | default | mandatory | `obsolete legacy` directive
--- | --- | --- | ---
binary | off | no | none

New in version 8.38.0.

If this parameter is set to on, imkafka will parse the hostname in log if it exists. The result can be retrieved from $hostname. If it’s off, for compatibility reasons, the local hostname is used, same as the previous version.

## Caveats/Known Bugs

- currently none

## Examples

### Example 1

In this sample a consumer for the topic static is created and will forward the messages to the omfile action.

    module(load="imkafka")
    input(type="imkafka" topic="static" broker="localhost:9092"
                         consumergroup="default" ruleset="pRuleset")

    ruleset(name="pRuleset") {
         action(type="omfile" file="path/to/file")
    }

See also

Help with configuring/using `Rsyslog`:

- Mailing list - best route for general questions

- GitHub: rsyslog source project - detailed questions, reporting issues that are believed to be bugs with `Rsyslog`

- Stack Exchange (View, Ask) - experimental support from rsyslog community

See also

Contributing to `Rsyslog`:

- Source project: rsyslog project README.

- Documentation: rsyslog-doc project README

Copyright 2008-2020 Rainer Gerhards (Großrinderfeld), and Others.