# Apache Kafka

The **Apache** **Kafka Output connector** can be used to forward data to **Event Hubs**, which provides an endpoint compatible with the **Apache Kafka® producer** and **consumer APIs**. The Kafka connector is available on both **Data Flow** and **Rule Engine**.

The Kafka connector requires at least one **kafka bootstrap server** to be provided in a comma-separated list. It also requires **kafka topic** to which the data will be sent. 

For the authentication, a simple username/password authentication mechanism, values for Security Protocol (SASL\_SSL) and SASL mechanism (PLAIN) are fixed and not editable.

Username ($ConnectionString) and password (value of connection string for the event hub namespace) only need to be provided in order to authenticate. 

{% hint style="info" %}
Optionally: The custom payload can be selected for making use of templated payload in the desired structure. If the custom payload is not selected, the whole data sample will be forwarded.
{% endhint %}

A tutorial about "How to send data to Event Hubs with Apache Kafka" can be found [here](https://docs.akenza.io/akenza.io/tutorials/create-enterprise-solutions/how-to-send-data-to-event-hubs-with-apache-kafka).

![Apache Kafka template](https://2165942204-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-MMKXTFIN5ZlLOjBlfC4%2Fuploads%2FZTEAbkyy0V1tpuy0cYOS%2Fscreely-1685092868713.png?alt=media\&token=b20bc003-d413-4463-8b60-e403c79c179d)