CREATE CONNECTION

A connection describes how to connect and authenticate to an external system you want Materialize to read from or write to. Once created, a connection is reusable across multiple CREATE SOURCE and CREATE SINK statements.

To use credentials that contain sensitive information (like passwords and SSL keys) in a connection, you must first create secrets to securely store each credential in Materialize’s secret management system. Credentials that are generally not sensitive (like usernames and SSL certificates) can be specified as plain text, or also stored as secrets.

Source and sink connections

AWS

An Amazon Web Services (AWS) connection provides Materialize with access to an Identity and Access Management (IAM) user or role in your AWS account. You can use AWS connections to perform bulk exports to Amazon S3, or perform authentication with an Amazon MSK cluster.

Connection options

WITH options

Permissions

When using role assumption-based authentication, you must configure a trust policy on the IAM role that permits Materialize to assume the role.

Materialize always uses the following IAM principal to assume the role:

arn:aws:iam::664411391173:role/MaterializeConnection

Materialize additionally generates an external ID which uniquely identifies your AWS connection across all Materialize regions. To ensure that other Materialize customers cannot assume your role, your IAM trust policy must constrain access to only the external ID that Materialize generates for the connection:

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Principal": {
                "AWS": "arn:aws:iam::664411391173:role/MaterializeConnection"
            },
            "Action": "sts:AssumeRole",
            "Condition": {
                "StringEquals": {
                    "sts:ExternalId": "<EXTERNAL ID FOR CONNECTION>"
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

You can retrieve the external ID for the connection, as well as an example trust policy, by querying the mz_internal.mz_aws_connections table:

SELECT id, external_id, example_trust_policy FROM mz_internal.mz_aws_connections;

Examples

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Principal": {
                "AWS": "arn:aws:iam::664411391173:role/MaterializeConnection"
            },
            "Action": "sts:AssumeRole",
            "Condition": {
                "StringEquals": {
                    "sts:ExternalId": "mz_00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000_u0"
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

CREATE CONNECTION aws_role_assumption TO AWS (
    ASSUME ROLE ARN = 'arn:aws:iam::400121260767:role/WarehouseExport'
);

CREATE SECRET aws_secret_access_key = '...';
CREATE CONNECTION aws_credentials TO AWS (
    ACCESS KEY ID = 'ASIAV2KIV5LPTG6HGXG6',
    SECRET ACCESS KEY = SECRET aws_secret_access_key
);

Kafka

A Kafka connection establishes a link to a Kafka cluster. You can use Kafka connections to create sources and sinks.

Syntax

Connection options

WITH options

To connect to a Kafka cluster with multiple bootstrap servers, use the BROKERS option:

CREATE CONNECTION kafka_connection TO KAFKA (
    BROKERS ('broker1:9092', 'broker2:9092')
);

Security protocol examples

CREATE CONNECTION kafka_connection TO KAFKA (
    BROKER 'unique-jellyfish-0000.prd.cloud.redpanda.com:9092',
    SECURITY PROTOCOL = 'PLAINTEXT',
    SSH TUNNEL ssh_connection
);

CREATE SECRET kafka_ssl_cert AS '-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- ...';
CREATE SECRET kafka_ssl_key AS '-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY----- ...';
CREATE SECRET ca_cert AS '-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- ...';

CREATE CONNECTION kafka_connection TO KAFKA (
    BROKER 'rp-f00000bar.cloud.redpanda.com:30365',
    SECURITY PROTOCOL = 'SSL'
    SSL CERTIFICATE = SECRET kafka_ssl_cert,
    SSL KEY = SECRET kafka_ssl_key,
    -- Specifying a certificate authority is only required if your cluster's
    -- certificates are not issued by a CA trusted by the Mozilla root store.
    SSL CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY = SECRET ca_cert
);

CREATE SECRET ca_cert AS '-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- ...';

CREATE CONNECTION kafka_connection TO KAFKA (
    BROKER = 'rp-f00000bar.cloud.redpanda.com:30365',
    SECURITY PROTOCOL = 'SSL',
    SSH TUNNEL ssh_connection,
    -- Specifying a certificate authority is only required if your cluster's
    -- certificates are not issued by a CA trusted by the Mozilla root store.
    SSL CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY = SECRET ca_cert
);

CREATE SECRET kafka_password AS '...';

CREATE CONNECTION kafka_connection TO KAFKA (
    BROKER 'unique-jellyfish-0000.us-east-1.aws.confluent.cloud:9092',
    SECURITY PROTOCOL = 'SASL_PLAINTEXT',
    SASL MECHANISMS = 'SCRAM-SHA-256', -- or `PLAIN` or `SCRAM-SHA-512`
    SASL USERNAME = 'foo',
    SASL PASSWORD = SECRET kafka_password,
    SSH TUNNEL ssh_connection
);

CREATE SECRET kafka_password AS '...';
CREATE SECRET ca_cert AS '-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- ...';

CREATE CONNECTION kafka_connection TO KAFKA (
    BROKER 'unique-jellyfish-0000.us-east-1.aws.confluent.cloud:9092',
    SECURITY PROTOCOL = 'SASL_SSL',
    SASL MECHANISMS = 'SCRAM-SHA-256', -- or `PLAIN` or `SCRAM-SHA-512`
    SASL USERNAME = 'foo',
    SASL PASSWORD = SECRET kafka_password,
    -- Specifying a certificate authority is only required if your cluster's
    -- certificates are not issued by a CA trusted by the Mozilla root store.
    SSL CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY = SECRET ca_cert
);

CREATE CONNECTION aws_msk TO AWS (
    ASSUME ROLE ARN = 'arn:aws:iam::400121260767:role/MaterializeMSK'
);

CREATE CONNECTION kafka_msk TO KAFKA (
    BROKER 'msk.mycorp.com:9092',
    SECURITY PROTOCOL = 'SASL_SSL',
    AWS CONNECTION = aws_msk
);

Network security

If your Kafka broker is not exposed to the public internet, you can tunnel the connection through an AWS PrivateLink service or an SSH bastion host.

CREATE CONNECTION privatelink_svc TO AWS PRIVATELINK (
    SERVICE NAME 'com.amazonaws.vpce.us-east-1.vpce-svc-0e123abc123198abc',
    AVAILABILITY ZONES ('use1-az1', 'use1-az4')
);

CREATE CONNECTION kafka_connection TO KAFKA (
    BROKERS (
        'broker1:9092' USING AWS PRIVATELINK privatelink_svc,
        'broker2:9092' USING AWS PRIVATELINK privatelink_svc (PORT 9093)
    )
);

CREATE CONNECTION privatelink_svc TO AWS PRIVATELINK (
    SERVICE NAME 'com.amazonaws.vpce.us-east-1.vpce-svc-0e123abc123198abc',
    AVAILABILITY ZONES ('use1-az1')
);

CREATE CONNECTION kafka_connection TO KAFKA (
    AWS PRIVATELINK (PORT 30292)
    SECURITY PROTOCOL = 'SASL_PLAINTEXT',
    SASL MECHANISMS = 'SCRAM-SHA-256',
    SASL USERNAME = 'foo',
    SASL PASSWORD = SECRET red_panda_password
);

CREATE CONNECTION ssh_connection TO SSH TUNNEL (
    HOST '<SSH_BASTION_HOST>',
    USER '<SSH_BASTION_USER>',
    PORT <SSH_BASTION_PORT>
);

CREATE CONNECTION kafka_connection TO KAFKA (
    BROKER 'broker1:9092',
    SSH TUNNEL ssh_connection
);

CREATE CONNECTION ssh1 TO SSH TUNNEL (HOST 'ssh1', ...);
CREATE CONNECTION ssh2 TO SSH TUNNEL (HOST 'ssh2', ...);

CREATE CONNECTION kafka_connection TO KAFKA (
BROKERS (
    'broker1:9092' USING SSH TUNNEL ssh1,
    'broker2:9092' USING SSH TUNNEL ssh2
    )
    SSH TUNNEL ssh_1
);

Confluent Schema Registry

A Confluent Schema Registry connection establishes a link to a Confluent Schema Registry server. You can use Confluent Schema Registry connections in the FORMAT clause of CREATE SOURCE and CREATE SINK statements.

Syntax

Connection options

WITH options

Examples

Using username and password authentication with TLS encryption:

CREATE SECRET csr_password AS '...';
CREATE SECRET ca_cert AS '-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- ...';

CREATE CONNECTION csr_basic TO CONFLUENT SCHEMA REGISTRY (
    URL 'https://rp-f00000bar.cloud.redpanda.com:30993',
    USERNAME = 'foo',
    PASSWORD = SECRET csr_password
    -- Specifying a certificate authority is only required if your cluster's
    -- certificates are not issued by a CA trusted by the Mozilla root store.
    SSL CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY = SECRET ca_cert
);

Using TLS for encryption and authentication:

CREATE SECRET csr_ssl_cert AS '-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- ...';
CREATE SECRET csr_ssl_key AS '-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY----- ...';
CREATE SECRET ca_cert AS '-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- ...';

CREATE CONNECTION csr_ssl TO CONFLUENT SCHEMA REGISTRY (
    URL 'https://rp-f00000bar.cloud.redpanda.com:30993',
    SSL CERTIFICATE = SECRET csr_ssl_cert,
    SSL KEY = SECRET csr_ssl_key,
    -- Specifying a certificate authority is only required if your cluster's
    -- certificates are not issued by a CA trusted by the Mozilla root store.
    SSL CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY = SECRET ca_cert
);

Network security

If your Confluent Schema Registry server is not exposed to the public internet, you can tunnel the connection through an AWS PrivateLink service or an SSH bastion host.

CREATE CONNECTION privatelink_svc TO AWS PRIVATELINK (
    SERVICE NAME 'com.amazonaws.vpce.us-east-1.vpce-svc-0e123abc123198abc',
    AVAILABILITY ZONES ('use1-az1', 'use1-az4')
);

CREATE CONNECTION csr_privatelink TO CONFLUENT SCHEMA REGISTRY (
    URL 'http://my-confluent-schema-registry:8081',
    AWS PRIVATELINK privatelink_svc
);

CREATE CONNECTION ssh_connection TO SSH TUNNEL (
    HOST '<SSH_BASTION_HOST>',
    USER '<SSH_BASTION_USER>',
    PORT <SSH_BASTION_PORT>
);

CREATE CONNECTION csr_ssh TO CONFLUENT SCHEMA REGISTRY (
    URL 'http://my-confluent-schema-registry:8081',
    SSH TUNNEL ssh_connection
);

MySQL

A MySQL connection establishes a link to a MySQL server. You can use MySQL connections to create sources.

Syntax

Connection options

WITH options

Example

CREATE SECRET mysqlpass AS '<POSTGRES_PASSWORD>';

CREATE CONNECTION mysql_connection TO MYSQL (
    HOST 'instance.foo000.us-west-1.rds.amazonaws.com',
    PORT 3306,
    USER 'root',
    PASSWORD SECRET mysqlpass
);

Network security

If your MySQL server is not exposed to the public internet, you can tunnel the connection through an AWS PrivateLink service or an SSH bastion host.

CREATE CONNECTION privatelink_svc TO AWS PRIVATELINK (
   SERVICE NAME 'com.amazonaws.vpce.us-east-1.vpce-svc-0e123abc123198abc',
   AVAILABILITY ZONES ('use1-az1', 'use1-az4')
);

CREATE CONNECTION mysql_connection TO MYSQL (
    HOST 'instance.foo000.us-west-1.rds.amazonaws.com',
    PORT 3306,
    USER 'root',
    PASSWORD SECRET mysqlpass,
    AWS PRIVATELINK privatelink_svc
);

CREATE CONNECTION tunnel TO SSH TUNNEL (
    HOST 'bastion-host',
    PORT 22,
    USER 'materialize'
);

CREATE CONNECTION mysql_connection TO MYSQL (
    HOST 'instance.foo000.us-west-1.rds.amazonaws.com',
    SSH TUNNEL ssh_connection
);

PostgreSQL

A Postgres connection establishes a link to a single database of a PostgreSQL server. You can use Postgres connections to create sources.

Syntax

Connection options

WITH options

Example

CREATE SECRET pgpass AS '<POSTGRES_PASSWORD>';

CREATE CONNECTION pg_connection TO POSTGRES (
    HOST 'instance.foo000.us-west-1.rds.amazonaws.com',
    PORT 5432,
    USER 'postgres',
    PASSWORD SECRET pgpass,
    SSL MODE 'require',
    DATABASE 'postgres'
);

Network security

If your PostgreSQL server is not exposed to the public internet, you can tunnel the connection through an AWS PrivateLink service or an SSH bastion host.

CREATE CONNECTION privatelink_svc TO AWS PRIVATELINK (
   SERVICE NAME 'com.amazonaws.vpce.us-east-1.vpce-svc-0e123abc123198abc',
   AVAILABILITY ZONES ('use1-az1', 'use1-az4')
);

CREATE CONNECTION pg_connection TO POSTGRES (
    HOST 'instance.foo000.us-west-1.rds.amazonaws.com',
    PORT 5432,
    DATABASE postgres,
    USER postgres,
    PASSWORD SECRET pgpass,
    AWS PRIVATELINK privatelink_svc
);

CREATE CONNECTION tunnel TO SSH TUNNEL (
    HOST 'bastion-host',
    PORT 22,
    USER 'materialize'
);

CREATE CONNECTION pg_connection TO POSTGRES (
    HOST 'instance.foo000.us-west-1.rds.amazonaws.com',
    PORT 5432,
    SSH TUNNEL tunnel,
    DATABASE 'postgres'
);

Network security connections

AWS PrivateLink

An AWS PrivateLink connection establishes a link to an AWS PrivateLink service. You can use AWS PrivateLink connections in Confluent Schema Registry connections, Kafka connections, and Postgres connections.

Syntax

Connection options

Permissions

Materialize assigns a unique principal to each AWS PrivateLink connection in your region using an Amazon Resource Name of the following form:

arn:aws:iam::664411391173:role/mz_<REGION-ID>_<CONNECTION-ID>

After creating the connection, you must configure the AWS PrivateLink service to accept connections from the AWS principal Materialize will connect as. The principals for AWS PrivateLink connections in your region are stored in the mz_aws_privatelink_connections system table.

SELECT * FROM mz_aws_privatelink_connections;

   id   |                                 principal
--------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 u1     | arn:aws:iam::664411391173:role/mz_20273b7c-2bbe-42b8-8c36-8cc179e9bbc3_u1
 u7     | arn:aws:iam::664411391173:role/mz_20273b7c-2bbe-42b8-8c36-8cc179e9bbc3_u7

For more details on configuring a trusted principal for your AWS PrivateLink service, see the AWS PrivateLink documentation.

Accepting connection requests

If your AWS PrivateLink service is configured to require acceptance of connection requests, you must additionally approve the connection request from Materialize after creating the connection. For more details on manually accepting connection requests, see the AWS PrivateLink documentation.

Example

CREATE CONNECTION privatelink_svc TO AWS PRIVATELINK (
    SERVICE NAME 'com.amazonaws.vpce.us-east-1.vpce-svc-0e123abc123198abc',
    AVAILABILITY ZONES ('use1-az1', 'use1-az4')
);

SSH tunnel

An SSH tunnel connection establishes a link to an SSH bastion server. You can use SSH tunnel connections in Kafka connections, MySQL connections, and Postgres connections.

Syntax

Connection options

Key pairs

Materialize automatically manages the key pairs for an SSH tunnel connection. Each connection is associated with two key pairs. The private key for each key pair is stored securely within your region and cannot be retrieved. The public key for each key pair is stored in the mz_ssh_tunnel_connections system table.

When Materialize connects to the SSH bastion server, it presents both keys for authentication. To allow key pair rotation without downtime, you should configure your SSH bastion server to accept both key pairs. You can then rotate the key pairs using ALTER CONNECTION.

Materialize currently generates SSH key pairs using the Ed25519 algorithm, which is fast, secure, and recommended by security professionals. Some legacy SSH servers do not support the Ed25519 algorithm. You will not be able to use these servers with Materialize’s SSH tunnel connections.

We routinely evaluate the security of the cryptographic algorithms in use in Materialize. Future versions of Materialize may use a different SSH key generation algorithm as security best practices evolve.

Examples

Create an SSH tunnel connection:

CREATE CONNECTION ssh_connection TO SSH TUNNEL (
    HOST 'bastion-host',
    PORT 22,
    USER 'materialize'
);

Retrieve the public keys for the SSH tunnel connection you just created:

SELECT
    mz_connections.name,
    mz_ssh_tunnel_connections.*
FROM
    mz_connections
JOIN
    mz_ssh_tunnel_connections USING(id)
WHERE
    mz_connections.name = 'ssh_connection';

 id    | public_key_1                          | public_key_2
-------+---------------------------------------+---------------------------------------
 ...   | ssh-ed25519 AAAA...76RH materialize   | ssh-ed25519 AAAA...hLYV materialize

Connection validation

Materialize automatically validates the connection and authentication parameters for most connection types on connection creation:

For connection types that are validated by default, if the validation step fails, the creation of the connection will also fail and a validation error is returned. You can disable connection validation by setting the VALIDATE option to false. This is useful, for example, when the parameters are known to be correct but the external system is unavailable at the time of creation.

Connection types that require additional setup steps after creation, like AWS and SSH tunnel connections, can be manually validated using the VALIDATE CONNECTION syntax once all setup steps are completed.

Privileges

The privileges required to execute this statement are:

• CREATE privileges on the containing schema.
• USAGE privileges on all connections and secrets used in the connection definition.
• USAGE privileges on the schemas that all connections and secrets in the statement are contained in.

Related pages

• CREATE SECRET
• CREATE SOURCE
• CREATE SINK