Configure JMX inputs for the Splunk Add-on for Kafka

To collect performance metrics from your Kafka clusters, configure an input using the Splunk Add-on for JMX on a dedicated heavy forwarder that also has the Splunk Add-on for Kafka installed. Input configuration using the Splunk Add-on for JMX is supported through Splunk Web.

Enable the JMX server

This input requires that a JMX server be installed and running on the machines hosting your Kafka clusters. If the JMX server is not already enabled, follow these steps to enable it.

1. Add export JMX_PORT=${JMX_PORT:-9999} to $KAFKA_HOME/bin/kafka-server-start.sh before exec $base_dir/kafka-run-class.sh.
2. Run $KAFKA_HOME/bin/kafka-server-stop.sh
3. Run $KAFKA_HOME/bin/kafka-server-start.sh $KAFKA_HOME/config/server.properties.

Input configuration

Use the Splunk Add-on for JMX in Splunk Web to configure a collection task to gather your performance metrics. For more information about configuring an input using the Splunk Add-on for JMX, see Configure inputs for the Splunk Add-on for JMX.

1. Log into Splunk Web and access the Splunk Add-on for JMX.
2. Click Add Server.
3. Fill out the fields.
   • Use Splunk_TA_kafka as the destination app.
   • Select Use URL directly for the connection type. The JMX connection URL is typically in this format: service:jmx:rmi:///jndi/rmi://<kafka_host_name>:9999/jmxrmi.
4. Click Create.
5. Click Configurations > Tasks.
6. Click Add Task.
7. Fill out the fields.
   • Use Splunk_TA_kafka as the destination app.
   • On the Servers tab, select the server you configured in step 3.
   • On the Templates tab, select one of the preconfigured Kafka templates.
   • On the Settings tab, set the Source Type to match the Kafka template that you selected on the Templates tab.

     Template	Source type
     KafkaServerStats	kafka:serverStats
     KafkaClusterStats	kafka:clusterStats
     KafkaControllerStats	kafka:controllerStats
     KafkaNetworkStats	kafka:networkStats
     KafkaLogStats	kafka:logStats
     KafkaCommon	kafka:common

8. Click Create.
9. Repeat steps 6 through 8 for each template and source type in the table.
10. Validate that data is coming in by searching for

    sourcetype=kafka:*Stats

    and

    sourcetype=kafka:common