:_mod-docs-content-type: ASSEMBLY

// This assembly is included in the following assemblies:
//
// configuring/configuring.adoc

[id='security-{context}']
= Managing TLS certificates

[role="_abstract"]
Strimzi supports TLS for encrypted communication between Kafka and Strimzi components.

Strimzi establishes encrypted TLS connections for communication between the following components when using Kafka in KRaft mode:

* Kafka brokers
* Kafka controllers
* Kafka brokers and controllers
* Strimzi operators and Kafka
* Cruise Control and Kafka brokers
* Kafka Exporter and Kafka brokers

Connections between clients and Kafka brokers use listeners that you must configure to use TLS-encrypted communication. 
You configure these listeners in the `Kafka` custom resource and each listener name and port number must be unique within the cluster. 
Communication between Kafka brokers and Kafka clients is encrypted according to how the `tls` property is configured for the listener.
For more information, see xref:deploy-client-access-str[].
 
The following diagram shows the connections for secure communication.   

.Kafka communication secured by TLS encryption
image::secure_communication_kraft.png[Secure Communication]

The ports shown in the diagram are used as follows:

Control plane listener (9090):: The internal control plane listener on port 9090 facilitates interbroker communication between Kafka controllers and broker-to-controller communication.
Additionally, the Cluster Operator communicates with the controllers through the listener.
This listener is not accessible to Kafka clients.
Replication listener (9091):: Data replication between brokers, as well as internal connections to the brokers from Strimzi operators, Cruise Control, and the Kafka Exporter, use the replication listener on port 9091.
This listener is not accessible to Kafka clients.
Listeners for client connections (9092 or higher):: 
For TLS-encrypted communication (through configuration of the listener), internal and external clients connect to Kafka brokers.
External clients (producers and consumers) connect to the Kafka brokers through the advertised listener port.    

IMPORTANT: When configuring listeners for client access to brokers, you can use port 9092 or higher (9093, 9094, and so on), but with a few exceptions.
The listeners cannot be configured to use the ports reserved for interbroker communication (9090 and 9091), Prometheus metrics (9404), and JMX (Java Management Extensions) monitoring (9999).

.Node status monitoring using the `KafkaAgent` (8443)

Strimzi includes a component called `KafkaAgent` that runs inside each Kafka node. 
The agent is responsible for collecting and providing node-specific information, such as current state and readiness, to the Cluster Operator. 
It listens on port 8443 for secure HTTPS connections and exposes this information through a REST API, which the Cluster Operator uses to retrieve data from the nodes.

include::../../modules/security/con-certificate-authorities.adoc[leveloffset=+1]

include::../../modules/security/ref-certificates-and-secrets.adoc[leveloffset=+1]

include::../../modules/security/con-certificate-renewal.adoc[leveloffset=+1]
//scheduling maintenance time windows
include::../../modules/configuring/con-maintenance-time-window-definition.adoc[leveloffset=+2]

include::../../modules/security/proc-renewing-ca-certs-manually.adoc[leveloffset=+2]

include::../../modules/security/proc-recovering-expired-ca-certs.adoc[leveloffset=+2]

include::../../modules/security/proc-replacing-private-keys.adoc[leveloffset=+2]

include::../../modules/security/proc-configuring-internal-clients-to-trust-cluster-ca.adoc[leveloffset=+1]

include::../../modules/security/proc-configuring-external-clients-to-trust-cluster-ca.adoc[leveloffset=+1]

//user-supplied certs
include::assembly-using-your-own-certificates.adoc[leveloffset=+1]

