When a Kafka topic is added to Event Endpoint Management, it is known as an event source. To make the event source accessible to others in your organization, you provide configuration in the form of an option which you can publish to the catalog as an event endpoint with either a self-service approach or with an approval process that is required to gain access.
As a Kafka administrator you can add new topics, describing the event source by adding cluster connection details from an existing or new cluster. This connection is tested, and if valid, basic topic details are retrieved from the Kafka cluster, such as name, partition, and replica information.
You can also provide other information such as a description about the event data available through a topic, tags that help describe the content of the event source through keywords, and schema details if the topic uses schemas to structure the event content.
All added topics are displayed along with tags and status information in the Event Endpoint Management UI Topics page.
In Event Endpoint Management 11.1.1 and later, each topic has an Options tab. Options provide you with more control over how you want this event source to appear in the catalog. For example, you can create an option for your topic with approval control enabled to allow you to control who can get access to that topic.
You can then publish each option to the Catalog, making it available to socialize with others in your organization, enabling users to discover the available event data.
To describe an event source by adding a topic, complete the following steps:
- Log in to the Event Endpoint Management UI by using your login credentials.
- In the navigation pane, click Topics, then click Add topic.
If you are using Event Endpoint Management 11.1.5 and later, in the Interaction pane, select how your application will interact with the event source from one of the following options, and then click Next.
Note: An event source can be either a produce-enabled event source or a consume-enabled event source, not both. To make the same topic accessible for both produce and consume usage, you must add the topic as 2 separate event sources. For example, you can describe the topic as separate event sources, one for each type of interaction.
- Either select an existing cluster or create a new cluster from the Cluster connection step.
- To select an existing cluster, locate and select the required cluster from the list of clusters, then click Next.
- To create a new cluster, click Add new cluster, and complete the following steps:
- Enter a unique name for your new cluster, and click Next.
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Enter a bootstrap server URL for the Kafka cluster.
Optional: You can click Add URL, and add one or more additional bootstrap servers, then click Next.
Note: After you click Next, Event Endpoint Management validates the entered bootstrap server URLs. While validating, if any untrusted certificates are found on the bootstrap server URLs, you are asked to confirm whether you accept the certificates found. If you do, select the Accept all certificates checkbox, and click Next.
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If the entered bootstrap server URLs require SASL credentials to authenticate with Kafka, you are prompted to provide credential details. If required, select the Security protocol, enter your username and password, and click Add cluster.
Note: After you click Add cluster, Event Endpoint Management validates whether the entered credentials are valid to connect to the cluster. If everything is valid, or if credentials were not required, your cluster is added to Event Endpoint Management, and you are returned to the Cluster connection step, where your new cluster appears, and can be selected.
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Select some topics to add from the list of topics available on this cluster.
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Optional: If a name is not added by default, enter a unique event source name for the topics selected.
Note: The event source name is the unique ID that identifies your topics.
- Click Add Topic.
Note: If any of the event source names that you entered are already in use, an error message is displayed to indicate that there is a conflict and it failed to add the topic. Otherwise, your new topics are added to Event Endpoint Management.
Your new topics appear in the Topics page with the Options status as 0 published. For more information about socializing your options, see option lifecycle states.