:_mod-docs-content-type: PROCEDURE

// Module included in the following assemblies:
//
// assembly-configuring-kafka-listeners.adoc

[id='proc-accessing-kafka-using-routes-{context}']
= Accessing Kafka using OpenShift routes

[role="_abstract"]
Use OpenShift routes to access a Kafka cluster from clients outside the OpenShift cluster.

To be able to use routes, add configuration for a `route` type listener in the `Kafka` custom resource. 
When applied, the configuration creates a dedicated route and service for an external bootstrap and each broker in the cluster. 
Clients connect to the bootstrap route, which routes them through the bootstrap service to connect to a broker. 
Per-broker connections are then established using DNS names, which route traffic from the client to the broker through the broker-specific routes and services.

To connect to a broker, you specify a hostname for the route bootstrap address, as well as the certificate used for TLS encryption.
For access using routes, the port is always 443.

WARNING: An OpenShift route address comprises the Kafka cluster name, the listener name, the project name, and the domain of the router.
For example, `my-cluster-kafka-external1-bootstrap-my-project.domain.com` (<cluster_name>-kafka-<listener_name>-bootstrap-<namespace>.<domain>). 
Each DNS label (between periods "`.`") must not exceed 63 characters, and the total length of the address must not exceed 255 characters.

The procedure shows basic listener configuration.
TLS encryption (`tls`) must be enabled.
You can also specify a client authentication mechanism (`authentication`).
Add additional configuration using `configuration` properties.
For example, you can use the `host` configuration property with `route` listeners to specify the hostnames used by the bootstrap and per-broker services.   

For more information on listener configuration, see the link:{BookURLConfiguring}#type-GenericKafkaListener-reference[`GenericKafkaListener` schema reference^].

.TLS passthrough

TLS passthrough is enabled for routes created by Strimzi.
Kafka uses a binary protocol over TCP, but routes are designed to work with a HTTP protocol. 
To be able to route TCP traffic through routes, Strimzi uses TLS passthrough with Server Name Indication (SNI).

SNI helps with identifying and passing connection to Kafka brokers.
In passthrough mode, TLS encryption is always used.
Because the connection passes to the brokers, the listeners use TLS certificates signed by the internal cluster CA and not the ingress certificates.
To configure listeners to use your own listener certificates, xref:proc-installing-certs-per-listener-{context}[use the `brokerCertChainAndKey` property].

.Prerequisites

* A running Cluster Operator

In this procedure, the Kafka cluster name is `my-cluster`.
The name of the listener is `external1`.

.Procedure

. Configure a `Kafka` resource with an external listener set to the `route` type.
+
For example:
+
[source,yaml,subs=attributes+]
----
apiVersion: {KafkaApiVersion}
kind: Kafka
metadata:
  labels:
    app: my-cluster
  name: my-cluster
  namespace: myproject
spec:
  kafka:
    # ...
    listeners:
      - name: external1
        port: 9094
        type: route
        tls: true # <1>
        authentication:
          type: tls
        # ...
    # ...
----
<1> For `route` type listeners, TLS encryption must be enabled (`true`).

. Create or update the resource.
+
[source,shell,subs=+quotes]
----
kubectl apply -f _<kafka_configuration_file>_
----
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A cluster CA certificate to verify the identity of the kafka brokers is created in the secret `my-cluster-cluster-ca-cert`.
+
`ClusterIP` type services are created for each Kafka broker, as well as an external bootstrap service.
+
A `route` is also created for each service, with a DNS address (host/port) to expose them using the default OpenShift HAProxy router.
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The routes are preconfigured with TLS passthrough. 
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.Routes created for the bootstraps and brokers
[source,shell]
----
NAME                                  HOST/PORT                                                  SERVICES                              PORT  TERMINATION
my-cluster-kafka-external1-0          my-cluster-kafka-external1-0-my-project.router.com         my-cluster-kafka-external1-0          9094  passthrough
my-cluster-kafka-external1-1          my-cluster-kafka-external1-1-my-project.router.com         my-cluster-kafka-external1-1          9094  passthrough
my-cluster-kafka-external1-2          my-cluster-kafka-external1-2-my-project.router.com         my-cluster-kafka-external1-2          9094  passthrough
my-cluster-kafka-external1-bootstrap  my-cluster-kafka-external1-bootstrap-my-project.router.com my-cluster-kafka-external1-bootstrap  9094  passthrough
----
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The DNS addresses used for client connection are propagated to the `status` of each route.
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.Example status for the bootstrap route
[source,yaml]
----
status:
  ingress:
    - host: >-
        my-cluster-kafka-external1-bootstrap-my-project.router.com
 # ...
----

. Use a target broker to check the client-server TLS connection on port 443 using the OpenSSL `s_client`.  
+
[source,shell]
----
openssl s_client -connect my-cluster-kafka-external1-0-my-project.router.com:443 -servername my-cluster-kafka-external1-0-my-project.router.com -showcerts
----
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The server name is the Server Name Indication (SNI) for passing the connection to the broker. 
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If the connection is successful, the certificates for the broker are returned.
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.Certificates for the broker
[source,shell,subs=attributes+]
----
Certificate chain
 0 s:O = io.strimzi, CN = my-cluster-kafka
   i:O = io.strimzi, CN = cluster-ca v0
----

. Retrieve the address of the bootstrap service from the status of the `Kafka` resource.
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[source,shell,subs=+quotes]
----
kubectl get kafka my-cluster -o=jsonpath='{.status.listeners[?(@.name=="external1")].bootstrapServers}{"\n"}'

my-cluster-kafka-external1-bootstrap-my-project.router.com:443
----
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The address comprises the Kafka cluster name, the listener name, the project name and the domain of the router (`router.com` in this example).

. Extract the cluster CA certificate.
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[source,shell]
----
kubectl get secret my-cluster-cluster-ca-cert -o jsonpath='{.data.ca\.crt}' | base64 -d > ca.crt
----

. Configure your client to connect to the brokers.

.. Specify the address for the bootstrap service and port 443 in your Kafka client as the bootstrap address to connect to the Kafka cluster.

.. Add the extracted certificate to the truststore of your Kafka client to configure a TLS connection.
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If you enabled a client authentication mechanism, you will also need to configure it in your client.

NOTE: If you are using your own listener certificates, check whether you need to add the CA certificate to the client's truststore configuration. 
If it is a public (external) CA, you usually won't need to add it.