Loading protobuf data using the Snowflake Connector for Kafka¶

Step 1: Installing the community protobuf converter¶

1. In a terminal window, change to the directory where you want to store a clone of the GitHub repository for the protobuf converter.

2. Execute the following command to clone the GitHub repository:

   git clone https://github.com/blueapron/kafka-connect-protobuf-converter
   

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3. Execute the following commands to build the 3.1.0 version of the converter using Apache Maven. Note that versions 2.3.0, 3.0.0, and 3.1.0 of the converter are supported by the Kafka connector:

   Note

   Maven must already be installed on your local machine.

   cd kafka-connect-protobuf-converter
   
   git checkout tags/v3.1.0
   
   mvn clean package
   

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   Maven builds a file named kafka-connect-protobuf-converter-<version>-jar-with-dependencies.jar in the current folder. This is the converter JAR file.

4. Copy the compiled kafka-connect-protobuf-converter-<version>-jar-with-dependencies.jar file to the directory for your Kafka package version:

   Confluent:

   <confluenct_dir>/share/java/kafka-serde-tools

   Apache Kafka:

   <apache_kafka_dir>/libs

Step 2: Compiling your .proto file¶

Compile the protobuf .proto file that defines your messages into a java file.

For example, suppose your messages are defined in a file named sensor.proto. In a terminal window, execute the following command to compile the protocol buffers file. Specify the source directory for the application source code, the destination directory (for the .java file), and the path to your .proto file:

protoc -I=$SRC_DIR --java_out=$DST_DIR $SRC_DIR/sensor.proto

A sample .proto file is available here: https://github.com/snowflakedb/snowflake-kafka-connector/blob/master/test/test_data/sensor.proto.

The command generates a file named SensorReadingImpl.java in the specified destination directory.

For more information, see the Google developer documentation

Step 3: Compiling the SensorReadingImpl.Java file¶

Compile the generated SensorReadingImpl.java file from Step 2: Compiling Your .proto File along with the Project Object Model of the protobuf project structure.

1. Open your .pom file from Step 2: Compiling Your .proto File in a text editor.

2. Create an otherwise empty directory with a structure:

   protobuf_folder
   ├── pom.xml
   └── src
       └── main
           └── java
               └── com
                   └── ..
   

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   Where the directory structure under src / main / java mirrors the package name in your .proto file (line 3).

3. Copy the generated SensorReadingImpl.java file from Step 2: Compiling Your .proto File to the bottom folder in the directory structure.

4. Create a file named pom.xml in the root of the protobuf_folder directory.

5. Open the empty pom.xml file in a text editor. Copy the following example project model into the file and modify it:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
           xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
           xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
      <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
   
      <groupId><group_id></groupId>
      <artifactId><artifact_id></artifactId>
      <version><version></version>
   
      <properties>
          <java.version><java_version></java.version>
          <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
      </properties>
   
      <dependencies>
          <dependency>
              <groupId>com.google.protobuf</groupId>
              <artifactId>protobuf-java</artifactId>
              <version>3.11.1</version>
          </dependency>
      </dependencies>
   
      <build>
          <plugins>
              <plugin>
                  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                  <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
                  <version>3.3</version>
                  <configuration>
                      <source>${java.version}</source>
                      <target>${java.version}</target>
                  </configuration>
              </plugin>
              <plugin>
                  <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
                  <version>3.1.0</version>
                  <configuration>
                      <descriptorRefs>
                          <descriptorRef>jar-with-dependencies</descriptorRef>
                      </descriptorRefs>
                  </configuration>
                  <executions>
                      <execution>
                          <id>make-assembly</id>
                          <phase>package</phase>
                          <goals>
                              <goal>single</goal>
                          </goals>
                      </execution>
                  </executions>
              </plugin>
          </plugins>
      </build>
   </project>
   

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   Where:

   <group_id>

   Group ID segments of the package name specified in your .proto file. For example, if the package name is com.foo.bar.buz, then the group ID is com.foo.

   <artifact_id>

   Artifact ID for the package that you choose. The artifact ID can be randomly picked.

   <version>

   Version of the package that you choose. The version can be randomly picked.

   <java_version>

   Version of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) installed on your local machine.

   For example:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
           xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
           xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
      <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
   
      <groupId>com.snowflake</groupId>
      <artifactId>kafka-test-protobuf</artifactId>
      <version>1.0.0</version>
   
      <properties>
          <java.version>1.8</java.version>
          <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
      </properties>
   
      <dependencies>
          <dependency>
              <groupId>com.google.protobuf</groupId>
              <artifactId>protobuf-java</artifactId>
              <version>3.11.1</version>
          </dependency>
      </dependencies>
   
      <build>
          <plugins>
              <plugin>
                  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                  <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
                  <version>3.3</version>
                  <configuration>
                      <source>${java.version}</source>
                      <target>${java.version}</target>
                  </configuration>
              </plugin>
              <plugin>
                  <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
                  <version>3.1.0</version>
                  <configuration>
                      <descriptorRefs>
                          <descriptorRef>jar-with-dependencies</descriptorRef>
                      </descriptorRefs>
                  </configuration>
                  <executions>
                      <execution>
                          <id>make-assembly</id>
                          <phase>package</phase>
                          <goals>
                              <goal>single</goal>
                          </goals>
                      </execution>
                  </executions>
              </plugin>
          </plugins>
      </build>
   </project>
   

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6. In a terminal window, change to the root of the protobuf_folder directory. Execute the following command to compile the protobuf data JAR file from the files in the directory:

   mvn clean package
   

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   Maven generates a file named <artifact_id>-<version>-jar-with-dependencies.jar in the protobuf_folder/target folder (e.g. kafka-test-protobuf-1.0.0-jar-with-dependencies.jar).

7. Copy the compiled kafka-test-protobuf-1.0.0-jar-with-dependencies.jar file to the directory for your Kafka package version:

   Confluent:

   <confluenct_dir>/share/java/kafka-serde-tools

   Apache Kafka:

   Copy the file to the directory in your $CLASSPATH environment variable.

Step 4: Configuring the Kafka connector¶

1. Open your Kafka configuration file (e.g. <kafka_dir>/config/connect-distributed.properties) in a text editor.

2. Add the value.converter.protoClassName property to the file. This property specifies the protocol buffer class to use to deserialize messages (e.g. com.google.protobuf.Int32Value).

   Note

   Nested classes must be specified using the $ notation (e.g. com.blueapron.connect.protobuf.NestedTestProtoOuterClass$NestedTestProto).

   For example:

   {
    "name":"XYZCompanySensorData",
      "config":{
        ..
        "value.converter.protoClassName":"com.snowflake.kafka.test.protobuf.SensorReadingImpl$SensorReading"
      }
    }
   

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   For information about the Kafka connector properties in general, see Kafka configuration properties.

   For more information about protocol buffer classes, see the Google developer documentation referenced earlier in this topic.

3. Save the file.