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Moving data between Managed Service for Apache Kafka® clusters using Data Transfer

Written by
Updated at May 5, 2025

You can transfer your data from Apache Kafka® topics between one Apache Kafka® cluster and another in real time. Among others, the following migration types are supported:

  • Between different Apache Kafka® versions, e.g., you can migrate topics from version 2.8 to version 3.1.
  • Between different availability zones: you can migrate a cluster with a single host from one zone to another.

Apache Kafka® cluster mirroring allows you to:

  • Set up topic replication in the management console interface or in Terraform.
  • Track the migration process using the transfer monitoring.
  • Avoid creating an intermediate VM or granting online access to your target cluster.

Note

This tutorial describes a scenario for migrating data from one Managed Service for Apache Kafka® cluster to another.

To migrate data:

  1. Set up and activate your transfer.
  2. Test your transfer.

If you no longer need the resources you created, delete them.

The support cost includes:

Getting started

  1. Prepare the data transfer infrastructure:

    1. Create a source and target Managed Service for Apache Kafka® cluster with public access from the internet in any suitable configuration.
    2. In the source cluster, create a topic named sensors.
    3. In the source cluster, create a user with the ACCESS_ROLE_PRODUCER and ACCESS_ROLE_CONSUMER permissions for the created topic.
    4. In the target cluster, create a user with the ACCESS_ROLE_PRODUCER and ACCESS_ROLE_CONSUMER permissions for all topics.

    1. If you do not have Terraform yet, install it.

    2. Get the authentication credentials. You can add them to environment variables or specify them later in the provider configuration file.

    3. Configure and initialize a provider. There is no need to create a provider configuration file manually, you can download it.

    4. Place the configuration file in a separate working directory and specify the parameter values. If you did not add the authentication credentials to environment variables, specify them in the configuration file.

    5. Download the data-transfer-mkf-mkf.tf configuration file to the same working directory.

      This file describes:

      • Network.
      • Subnet.
      • Security group and the rule required to connect to a Managed Service for Apache Kafka® cluster.
      • Managed Service for Apache Kafka® source cluster with public access from the internet.
      • Apache Kafka® topic for the source cluster.
      • Apache Kafka® user for the source cluster.
      • Managed Service for Apache Kafka® target cluster.
      • Apache Kafka® topic for the target cluster.
      • Apache Kafka® user for the target cluster.
      • Transfer.

    6. In the data-transfer-mkf-mkf.tf file, specify the following parameters:

      • source_kf_version: Apache Kafka® version in the source cluster.
      • source_user_name: Username for connection to the Apache Kafka® topic.
      • source_user_password: User password.
      • target_kf_version: Apache Kafka® version in the target cluster.
      • transfer_enabled: Set to 0 to ensure that no transfer is created until you manually create the source and target endpoints.

    7. Make sure the Terraform configuration files are correct using this command:

      terraform validate

      If there are any errors in the configuration files, Terraform will point them out.

    8. Create the required infrastructure:

      1. Run this command to view the planned changes:

        terraform plan

        If you described the configuration correctly, the terminal will display a list of the resources to update and their parameters. This is a verification step that does not apply changes to your resources.

      2. If everything looks correct, apply the changes:

        1. Run this command:

          terraform apply

        2. Confirm updating the resources.

        3. Wait for the operation to complete.

      All the required resources will be created in the specified folder. You can check resource availability and their settings in the management console.

    The source cluster's new Apache Kafka® topic, sensors, will receive test data from car sensors in JSON format, for example:

    {
    "device_id":"iv9a94th6rzt********",
    "datetime":"2020-06-05 17:27:00",
    "latitude":"55.70329032",
    "longitude":"37.65472196",
    "altitude":"427.5",
    "speed":"0",
    "battery_voltage":"23.5",
    "cabin_temperature":"17",
    "fuel_level":null
}

  2. Install the utilities:

Set up and activate the transfer

  1. Create a target endpoint:

    • Database type: Kafka.

    • Endpoint parameters:

      • Connection settings: Managed Service for Apache Kafka cluster.

        Select a target cluster from the list and specify its connection settings.

      • Topic:

        • Topic full name: measurements.

  2. Create a source endpoint:

    • Database type: Kafka.
    • Endpoint parameters:

      • Connection type: Managed Service for Apache Kafka cluster.

        Select a source cluster from the list and specify its connection settings.

      • Topic full name: sensors.

  3. Create a transfer:

    1. Create a transfer of the Replication type that will use the created endpoints.
    2. Activate your transfer.

    1. In the data-transfer-mkf-mkf.tf file, specify the following parameters:

      • source_endpoint_id: ID of the source endpoint.
      • target_endpoint_id: Target endpoint ID.
      • transfer_enabled: 1 to create a transfer.

    2. Make sure the Terraform configuration files are correct using this command:

      terraform validate

      If there are any errors in the configuration files, Terraform will point them out.

    3. Create the required infrastructure:

      1. Run this command to view the planned changes:

        terraform plan

        If you described the configuration correctly, the terminal will display a list of the resources to update and their parameters. This is a verification step that does not apply changes to your resources.

      2. If everything looks correct, apply the changes:

        1. Run this command:

          terraform apply

        2. Confirm updating the resources.

        3. Wait for the operation to complete.

      Once created, your transfer will be activated automatically.

Test your transfer

  1. Wait for the transfer status to change to Replicating.

  2. Make sure that the data from the topic in the source cluster move to the topic in the target Managed Service for Apache Kafka® cluster:

    1. Create a sample.json file with test data:

      {
    "device_id": "iv9a94th6rzt********",
    "datetime": "2020-06-05 17:27:00",
    "latitude": 55.70329032,
    "longitude": 37.65472196,
    "altitude": 427.5,
    "speed": 0,
    "battery_voltage": 23.5,
    "cabin_temperature": 17,
    "fuel_level": null
}

{
    "device_id": "rhibbh3y08qm********",
    "datetime": "2020-06-06 09:49:54",
    "latitude": 55.71294467,
    "longitude": 37.66542005,
    "altitude": 429.13,
    "speed": 55.5,
    "battery_voltage": null,
    "cabin_temperature": 18,
    "fuel_level": 32
}

{
    "device_id": "iv9a94th6rzt********",
    "datetime": "2020-06-07 15:00:10",
    "latitude": 55.70985913,
    "longitude": 37.62141918,
    "altitude": 417.0,
    "speed": 15.7,
    "battery_voltage": 10.3,
    "cabin_temperature": 17,
    "fuel_level": null
}

    2. Send data from the sample.json file to the Managed Service for Apache Kafka® source cluster's sensors topic using jq and kafkacat:

      jq -rc . sample.json | kafkacat -P \
   -b <FQDN_of_broker_in_source_cluster>:9091 \
   -t sensors \
   -k key \
   -X security.protocol=SASL_SSL \
   -X sasl.mechanisms=SCRAM-SHA-512 \
   -X sasl.username="<username_in_source_cluster>" \
   -X sasl.password="<user_password_in_source_cluster>" \
   -X ssl.ca.location=/usr/local/share/ca-certificates/Yandex/YandexInternalRootCA.crt -Z

      The data is sent on behalf of the created user. To learn more about setting up an SSL certificate and working with kafkacat, see Connecting to a Apache Kafka® cluster from applications.

    3. Use kafkacat to make sure that the data has been moved from the source cluster to the target Managed Service for Apache Kafka® cluster:

      kafkacat -C \
         -b <FQDN_of_broker_in_target_cluster>:9091 \
         -t measurements \
         -X security.protocol=SASL_SSL \
         -X sasl.mechanisms=SCRAM-SHA-512 \
         -X sasl.username="<username_in_target_cluster>" \
         -X sasl.password="<user_password_in_target_cluster>" \
         -X ssl.ca.location=/usr/local/share/ca-certificates/Yandex/YandexInternalRootCA.crt -Z -K:

Delete the resources you created

Note

Before deleting the resources you created, deactivate the transfer.

Some resources are not free of charge. To avoid paying for them, delete the resources you no longer need:

  1. Delete the transfer.
  2. Delete the endpoints for both the source and target.

Delete the other resources depending on how they were created:

  1. In the terminal window, go to the directory containing the infrastructure plan.

    Warning

    Make sure the directory has no Terraform manifests with the resources you want to keep. Terraform deletes all resources that were created using the manifests in the current directory.

  2. Delete resources:

    1. Run this command:

      terraform destroy

    2. Confirm deleting the resources and wait for the operation to complete.

    All the resources described in the Terraform manifests will be deleted.

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