Connect to Source

This block enables you to define the Kafka server details. Below is the screenshot showing the fields in the block.

The table below describes the fields in the block:

Field Name	Description
kafka brokers	Kafka server URL. The URL is a combination of the server address and the port number. Example*: `kafka-connectplus:9092`
kafka topics	Predefined topic name from which you consume messages. These topics must already exist in your Kafka system. You can list multiple topics separated by commas.
Consumer Group Id	Specifies the predefined consumer group ID used for access control.
Security Protocol	Specify the security protocol you want to use to exchange data between the Kafka client and server. The supported protocols are: PLAINTEXT: No data encryption or authentication. SSL: Uses the SSL protocol for data encryption but no SASL authentication. SASL_PLAINTEXT: Uses SASL protocol for authentication but does not encrypt data. SASL_SSL: Uses the SASL protocol for authentication and SSL for encryption.
SASL Mechanism	Specify the authentication method used to connect to Kafka. The supported mechanisms are `GSSAPI`, `PLAIN`, `SCRAM-SHA-256`
Username and Password	Username and password to access the Kafka server.
Headers as Attribute	Choose the headers to be used as attributes. Kafka message headers can contain metadata such as `user ID`, `priority`, and `source system`. Connect+ extracts these headers as data attributes and makes them available to all steps in the flow. You can use these attributes for: Routing: Direct messages based on header values Filtering: Process only relevant messages Tracking: Enable observability and trace message flow Simplified Logic: Apply business rules without parsing the main message.