:_mod-docs-content-type: CONCEPT

// This assembly is included in the following assemblies:
//
// assembly-deploy-kafka-connect-with-plugins.adoc

[id='con-exposing-kafka-connect-api-{context}']
= Exposing the Kafka Connect API

[role="_abstract"]
Use the Kafka Connect REST API as an alternative to using `KafkaConnector` resources to manage connectors.
The Kafka Connect REST API is available as a service running on `_<connect_cluster_name>_-connect-api:8083`, where _<connect_cluster_name>_ is the name of your Kafka Connect cluster.
The service is created when you create a Kafka Connect instance.

The operations supported by the Kafka Connect REST API are described in the link:{ApacheKafkaDocsBase}kafka-connect/user-guide/#rest-api[Apache Kafka Connect API documentation^].

NOTE: The `strimzi.io/use-connector-resources` annotation enables KafkaConnectors.
If you applied the annotation to your `KafkaConnect` resource configuration, you need to remove it to use the Kafka Connect API.
Otherwise, manual changes made directly using the Kafka Connect REST API are reverted by the Cluster Operator.

You can add the connector configuration as a JSON object.

.Example curl request to add connector configuration
[source,curl,subs=attributes+]
----
curl -X POST \
  http://my-connect-cluster-connect-api:8083/connectors \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{ "name": "my-source-connector",
    "config":
    {
      "connector.class":"org.apache.kafka.connect.file.FileStreamSourceConnector",
      "file": "/opt/kafka/LICENSE",
      "topic":"my-topic",
      "tasksMax": "4",
      "type": "source"
    }
}'
----

The API is only accessible within the Kubernetes cluster.
If you want to make the Kafka Connect API accessible to applications running outside of the Kubernetes cluster, you can expose it manually by creating one of the following features:

* `LoadBalancer` or `NodePort` type services

* `Ingress` resources (Kubernetes only)

* OpenShift routes (OpenShift only)

NOTE: The connection is insecure, so allow external access advisedly.

If you decide to create services, use the labels from the `selector` of the `_<connect_cluster_name>_-connect-api` service to configure the pods to which the service will route the traffic:

.Selector configuration for the service
[source,yaml,subs=attributes+]
----
# ...
selector:
  strimzi.io/cluster: my-connect-cluster <1>
  strimzi.io/kind: KafkaConnect
  strimzi.io/name: my-connect-cluster-connect <2>
#...
----
<1> Name of the Kafka Connect custom resource in your Kubernetes cluster.
<2> Name of the Kafka Connect deployment created by the Cluster Operator.

You must also create a `NetworkPolicy` that allows HTTP requests from external clients.

.Example NetworkPolicy to allow requests to the Kafka Connect API
[source,yaml,subs=attributes+]
----
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: NetworkPolicy
metadata:
  name: my-custom-connect-network-policy
spec:
  ingress:
  - from:
    - podSelector: <1>
        matchLabels:
          app: my-connector-manager
    ports:
    - port: 8083
      protocol: TCP
  podSelector:
    matchLabels:
      strimzi.io/cluster: my-connect-cluster
      strimzi.io/kind: KafkaConnect
      strimzi.io/name: my-connect-cluster-connect
  policyTypes:
  - Ingress
----
<1> The label of the pod that is allowed to connect to the API.

To add the connector configuration outside the cluster, use the URL of the resource that exposes the API in the curl command.
