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When configuring Conduktor Gateway for the first time, selecting the appropriate routing method is crucial for optimizing your Kafka proxy setup. Pick one of these solutions depending on your requirements: Choose port-based routing if your environment:
  • doesn’t require TLS encryption
  • has flexible network port management capabilities
  • prefers a simpler, straightforward configuration without DNS complexities
Choose host-based routing (SNI) if your environment:
  • requires TLS encrypted connections for secure communication
  • faces challenges with managing multiple network ports
  • seeks a scalable solution with easier management of routing through DNS and host names

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Port-based routing

In port-based Routing, each Kafka broker is assigned a unique port number and clients connect to the appropriate port to access the required broker. Gateway listens on as many ports as defined by the environment variable GATEWAY_PORT_COUNT. The recommended number of ports in production is double the amount of the Kafka brokers (to cover the growth of the Kafka cluster). Configure port-based routing using these environment variables:
  • GATEWAY_ADVERTISED_HOST
  • GATEWAY_PORT_START
  • GATEWAY_PORT_COUNT
  • GATEWAY_MIN_BROKERID
The default port range values cover the range of the brokerIds with an additional two ports. The maximum broker ID is requested from the cluster, the min should be set as GATEWAY_MIN_BROKERID. E.g., in a three broker cluster with IDs 1, 2, 3, GATEWAY_MIN_BROKERID should be set to 1 and the default port count will be 5. We recommend SNI routing when not using a sequential and stable broker IDs range to avoid excessive port assignment. E.g., a three broker cluster with IDs 100, 200, 300 with GATEWAY_MIN_BROKERID=100 will default to 203 ports and would fail if broker ID 400 is introduced.

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Host-based routing (SNI)

With host-based routing, Gateway listens on a single port and leverages Server Name Indication (SNI) (an extension to the TLS protocol), to route traffic based on the hostname specified in the TLS handshake to determine the target Kafka broker, requiring valid TLS certificates, proper DNS setup, and DNS resolution. Find out how to set up SNI routing.