Feeding JSON Data to Kafka Topic Using Rest Proxy

Last Updated : 10 May, 2025

This POC describes the procedure of feeding JSON format data to a Kafka Topic using Kafka REST Proxy, that which provides a RESTful interface to a Kafka cluster.

Prerequisites:

Before you start this procedure, ensure that :

Administrative access to running Kafka VM and that VM must have connectivity as described in the loading Prerequisites.
Identify and note the Zoo-Keeper hostname and port.
Identify and note the hostname and port of the Kafka broker(s).
Identify and note the hostname and port of the Kafka Rest Proxy.

Note: This procedure assumes that you have installed the Apache Kafka distribution. If you are using a different Kafka distribution, you may need to adjust certain commands in the procedure.

Here, In this Use case, we have configured hostnames and ports with the following

rest-proxy localhost: 8082
zookeeper localhost: 2182
bootstrap-server localhost: 9095

Procedure to feed JSON data to Kafka Topic:

Step 1: Log in to a host in your Kafka VM.

$ cd kafka_2.12-2.4.0  /*if this directory does not exit, Use ls command to view the folder and copy/paste the existing folder*/

To list out, all the topics which are present inside that kafka topics, use the below cmd

$ bin/kafka-topics.sh --list --zookeeper localhost:2182  /*To check/verify and to display all the topics*/

Step 2: Create a Kafka topic. Here, create a topic named "topic-test-1" with a single partition and only one replica:

For example:

$ bin/kafka-topics.sh --create --zookeeper localhost:2182 --replication-factor 1 --partitions 1 --topic topic-test-1

$ bin/kafka-topics.sh --list --zookeeper localhost:2182  /*To verify or to list out the created topic*/

Step 3: Create a JSON file. Create a file named sample- json-data.json in the editor of your choice.

For example:

$ vi sample-json-data.json

then, paste some json format text and add it to a file, and then save the file and exit

For example:

{
 "first_name": "Tom",
 "last_name": "Cruze",
 "email": "[email protected]",
 "gender": "Male",
 "ip_address": "1.2.3.4"
}

Step 4: To stream the contents of the json file to a Kafka console producer

$ bin/kafka-console-producer.sh --broker-list localhost:9095 --topic topic-test-1 < sample-json-data.json

Step 5: To verify that the Kafka console producer published the messages to the topic by running a Kafka console consumer

$ bin/kafka-console-consumer.sh --bootstrap-server localhost:9095 --topic topic-test-1 --from-beginning

Step 6: To stream the contents of the other JSON file to a Kafka console producer

For example:

$ vi sample.json

then, paste some JSON format text and add it to a file, and then save the file and exit

{ "cust_id": 1313131, "month": 12, "expenses": 1313.13 }
{ "cust_id": 3535353, "month": 11, "expenses": 761.35 }
{ "cust_id": 7979797, "month": 10, "expenses": 4489.00 }
{ "cust_id": 7979797, "month": 11, "expenses": 18.72 }
{ "cust_id": 3535353, "month": 10, "expenses": 6001.94 }
{ "cust_id": 7979797, "month": 12, "expenses": 173.18 }
{ "cust_id": 1313131, "month": 10, "expenses": 492.83 }
{ "cust_id": 3535353, "month": 12, "expenses": 81.12 }
{ "cust_id": 1313131, "month": 11, "expenses": 368.27 }

Kafka REST Proxy:

The Kafka REST Proxy provides a RESTful interface to a Kafka cluster. It makes it easy to produce and consume messages, view the state of the cluster, and perform administrative actions without using the native Kafka protocol or clients.

To get the list of topics using curl

$ curl "http://localhost:8082/topics"

To get the info of one topic

$ curl http://localhost:8082/topics/<menction topic name>

For example:

$ curl "http://localhost:8082/topics/topic-test-1"

Step 1: To Produce a message using JSON with a value to a topic

For example, to produce a message using JSON with a value '{ "month": 12}' to the topic topic-test-1

$ curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/vnd.kafka.json.v2+json" \
-H "Accept: application/vnd.kafka.v2+json" \
--data '{"records":[{"value":{"month": 12}}]}' "http://localhost:8082/topics/topic-test-1"
/*Expected output from preceding command*/
{
"offsets":[{"partition":0,"offset":16,"error_code":null,"error":null}],"key_schema_id":null,"value_schema_id":null
}

To verify that the Kafka console producer published the messages to the topic by running a Kafka console consumer

$ bin/kafka-console-consumer.sh --bootstrap-server localhost:9095 --topic topic-test-1 --from-beginning

Step 2: Create a consumer for JSON data, starting at the beginning of the topic's

$ curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/vnd.kafka.v2+json" \
--data '{"name": "my_consumer_instance", "format": "json", "auto.offset.reset": "earliest"}' \  http://localhost:8082/consumers/my_json_consumer
/* Expected output from preceding command*/
{
"instance_id":"my_consumer_instance",
"base_uri":"http://localhost:8082/consumers/my_json_consumer/instances/my_consumer_instance"
OR
"base_uri":"http://rest-proxy:8082/consumers/my_json_consumer/instances/my_consumer_instance"  
}

Step 3: Log and subscribe to a topic.

$ curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/vnd.kafka.v2+json" --data '{"topics":["topic-test-1"]}' \
http://localhost:8082/consumers/my_json_consumer/instances/my_consumer_instance/subscription
/* Expected output from preceding command*/
# No content in response

Step 4: To consume some data using the base URL in the first response.

$ curl -X GET -H "Accept: application/vnd.kafka.json.v2+json" \
http://localhost:8082/consumers/my_json_consumer/instances/my_consumer_instance/records

Optional Steps:

Step 1: Finally, to close the consumer with a DELETE to make it leave the group and clean up its resources.

$ curl -X DELETE -H "Content-Type: application/vnd.kafka.v2+json" \
http://localhost:8082/consumers/my_json_consumer/instances/my_consumer_instance
/* Expected output from preceding command*/
# No content in response

Step 2: verify the consumer instance using the following command

$ curl -X GET -H "Accept: application/vnd.kafka.json.v2+json" \
http://localhost:8082/consumers/my_json_consumer/instances/my_consumer_instance/records
/* Expected output from preceding command*/
{ “error_code”: 40403, “message”: “Consumer instance not found.” }