Setup Guide

This guide walks you through setting up a Confluent Schema Registry instance and obtaining the credentials required to use the connector.

Prerequisites

• A Confluent Cloud account. If you do not have one, sign up for a free trial at Confluent.

Step 1: Create an environment and Kafka cluster

1. Log in to the Confluent Cloud Console.
2. Create a new Environment (or use the default).
3. Inside the environment, create a Kafka Cluster (the Basic tier is sufficient for development).
4. Wait for the cluster to be provisioned.

Step 2: Enable schema registry

1. In your environment, navigate to Schema Registry in the left sidebar.
2. Select a cloud provider and region for the Schema Registry instance.
3. Click Enable Schema Registry.
4. Once enabled, copy the Schema Registry endpoint URL; this is your baseUrl (e.g., https://psrc-xxxxx.us-east-2.aws.confluent.cloud).

note

Schema Registry is enabled at the environment level. All clusters within the environment share the same Schema Registry instance.

Step 3: Create schema registry API key and secret

1. In the Schema Registry section, click API credentials or navigate to API Keys.
2. Click Add Key and select Schema Registry as the resource scope.
3. Copy the generated API Key and API Secret.

tip

Store the API Key and API Secret securely. Use Ballerina's configurable feature and a Config.toml file to supply them at runtime.

Step 4: Configure SSL truststore (if required)

If your Schema Registry instance requires SSL/TLS with a custom certificate authority:

1. Download the CA certificate from Confluent Cloud or your self-managed Schema Registry.

2. Import it into a Java truststore:

   keytool -import -trustcacerts -alias ConfluentCA -file ca-cert.pem -keystore truststore.jks -storepass <password>

3. Note the truststore file path and password for use in the connector configuration.

note

For Confluent Cloud with standard certificates, a custom truststore is typically not required.