CREATE CONNECTION

A connection describes how to connect and authenticate to an external system you want Materialize to read data from. 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

Kafka

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

Syntax

CREATE CONNECTION IF NOT EXISTS connection_name TO KAFKA ( field = val , )

Connection options

Field Value Required Description
BROKER text The Kafka bootstrap server. Exclusive with BROKERS.
BROKERS text[] A comma-separated list of Kafka bootstrap servers. Exclusive with BROKER.
PROGRESS TOPIC text The name of a topic that Kafka sinks can use to track internal consistency metadata. If this is not specified, a default topic name will be selected.

Authentication

To connect to a Kafka broker that requires SSL authentication, use the following options:

SSL options
Field Value Required Description
SSL CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY secret or text The certificate authority (CA) certificate in PEM format. Used for both SSL client and server authentication. If unspecified, uses the system’s default CA certificates.
SSL CERTIFICATE secret or text Your SSL certificate in PEM format. Required for SSL client authentication.
SSL KEY secret Your SSL certificate’s key in PEM format. Required for SSL client authentication.
Example
CREATE SECRET kafka_ssl_crt AS '<BROKER_SSL_CRT>';
CREATE SECRET kafka_ssl_key AS '<BROKER_SSL_KEY>';

CREATE CONNECTION kafka_connection TO KAFKA (
    BROKER 'rp-f00000bar.data.vectorized.cloud:30365',
    SSL KEY = SECRET kafka_ssl_key,
    SSL CERTIFICATE = SECRET kafka_ssl_crt
);

To connect to a Kafka broker that requires SASL authentication, use the following options.

SASL options
Field Value Required Description
SASL MECHANISMS text The SASL mechanism to use for authentication. Supported: PLAIN, SCRAM-SHA-256, SCRAM-SHA-512.
SASL USERNAME secret or text Your SASL username, if any. Required if SASL MECHANISMS is PLAIN.
SASL PASSWORD secret Your SASL password, if any. Required if SASL MECHANISMS is PLAIN.
SSL CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY secret or text The certificate authority (CA) certificate. Used for both SSL client and server authentication. If unspecified, uses the system’s default CA certificates.
Example
CREATE SECRET kafka_password AS '<BROKER_PASSWORD>';

CREATE CONNECTION kafka_connection TO KAFKA (
    BROKER 'unique-jellyfish-0000-kafka.upstash.io:9092',
    SASL MECHANISMS = 'SCRAM-SHA-256',
    SASL USERNAME = 'foo',
    SASL PASSWORD = SECRET kafka_password
);

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')
);

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.

WARNING! If your Kafka cluster advertises brokers that are not specified in the BROKERS clause, Materialize will attempt to connect to those brokers without any tunneling.
BROKERS ( kafka_broker , )
kafka_broker
'host:port' USING AWS PRIVATELINK aws_connection ( broker_option , )
broker_option
PORT number AVAILABILITY ZONE az

The USING clause specifies that Materialize should connect to the designated broker via an AWS PrivateLink service. Brokers do not need to be configured the same way, but the clause must be individually attached to each broker that you want to connect to via the tunnel.

Field Value Required Description
AWS PRIVATELINK object name The name of an AWS PrivateLink connection through which network traffic for this broker should be routed.
AVAILABILITY ZONE text The ID of the availability zone of the AWS PrivateLink service in which the broker is accessible. If unspecified, traffic will be routed to each availability zone declared in the AWS PrivateLink connection in sequence until the correct availability zone for the broker is discovered. If specified, Materialize will always route connections via the specified availability zone.
PORT integer The port of the AWS PrivateLink service to connect to. Defaults to the broker’s port.

Suppose you have the following infrastructure:

  • A Kafka cluster consisting of two brokers named broker1 and broker2, both listening on port 9092.

  • A Network Load Balancer that forwards port 9092 to broker1:9092 and port 9093 to broker2:9092.

  • A PrivateLink endpoint service attached to the load balancer.

You can create a connection to this Kafka broker in Materialize like so:

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)
    )
);

For step-by-step instructions on creating AWS PrivateLink connections and configuring an AWS PrivateLink service to accept connections from Materialize, check this guide.

Syntax
WARNING! If your Kafka cluster advertises brokers that are not specified in the BROKERS clause, Materialize will attempt to connect to those brokers without any tunneling.
BROKERS ( kafka_broker , )
kafka_broker
'host:port' USING SSH TUNNEL ssh_connection

The USING clause specifies that Materialize should connect to the designated broker via an SSH bastion server. Brokers do not need to be configured the same way, but the clause must be individually attached to each broker that you want to connect to via the tunnel.

Connection options
Field Value Required Description
SSH TUNNEL object name The name of an SSH tunnel connection through which network traffic for this broker should be routed.
Example
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 (
BROKERS (
    'broker1:9092' USING SSH TUNNEL ssh_connection,
    'broker2:9092' USING SSH TUNNEL ssh_connection
    -- Add all Kafka brokers
    )
);

For step-by-step instructions on creating SSH tunnel connections and configuring an SSH bastion server to accept connections from Materialize, check this guide.

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

CREATE CONNECTION IF NOT EXISTS connection_name TO CONFLUENT SCHEMA REGISTRY ( field = val , )

Connection options

Field Value Required Description
URL text The schema registry URL.
SSL CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY secret or text The certificate authority (CA) certificate in PEM format. Used for both SSL client and server authentication. If unspecified, uses the system’s default CA certificates.
SSL CERTIFICATE secret or text Your SSL certificate in PEM format. Required for SSL client authentication.
SSL KEY secret Your SSL certificate’s key in PEM format. Required for SSL client authentication.
PASSWORD secret The password used to connect to the schema registry with basic HTTP authentication. This is compatible with the ssl options, which control the transport between Materialize and the CSR.
USERNAME secret or text The username used to connect to the schema registry with basic HTTP authentication. This is compatible with the ssl options, which control the transport between Materialize and the CSR.

Examples

CREATE SECRET csr_ssl_crt AS '<CSR_SSL_CRT>';
CREATE SECRET csr_ssl_key AS '<CSR_SSL_KEY>';
CREATE SECRET csr_password AS '<CSR_PASSWORD>';

CREATE CONNECTION csr_ssl TO CONFLUENT SCHEMA REGISTRY (
    URL 'https://rp-f00000bar.data.vectorized.cloud:30993',
    SSL KEY = SECRET csr_ssl_key,
    SSL CERTIFICATE = SECRET csr_ssl_crt,
    USERNAME = 'foo',
    PASSWORD = SECRET csr_password
);

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.

Field Value Required Description
AWS PRIVATELINK object name The name of an AWS PrivateLink connection through which network traffic should be routed.
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
);
Connection options
Field Value Required Description
SSH TUNNEL object name The name of an SSH tunnel connection through which network traffic should be routed.
Example
CREATE CONNECTION ssh_connection TO SSH TUNNEL (
    HOST '<SSH_BASTION_HOST>',
    USER '<SSH_BASTION_USER>',
    PORT <SSH_BASTION_PORT>
);

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

CREATE CONNECTION IF NOT EXISTS connection_name TO POSTGRES ( field = val , )

Connection options

Field Value Required Description
HOST text Database hostname.
PORT integer Default: 5432. Port number to connect to at the server host.
DATABASE text Target database.
USER text Database username.
PASSWORD secret Password for the connection
SSL CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY secret or text The certificate authority (CA) certificate in PEM format. Used for both SSL client and server authentication. If unspecified, uses the system’s default CA certificates.
SSL MODE text Default: disable. Enables SSL connections if set to require, verify_ca, or verify_full.
SSL CERTIFICATE secret or text Client SSL certificate in PEM format.
SSL KEY secret Client SSL key in PEM format.

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.

Field Value Required Description
AWS PRIVATELINK object name The name of an AWS PrivateLink connection through which network traffic should be routed.
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
);

For step-by-step instructions on creating AWS PrivateLink connections and configuring an AWS PrivateLink service to accept connections from Materialize, check this guide.

Connection options
Field Value Required Description
SSH TUNNEL object name The name of an SSH tunnel connection through which network traffic should be routed.
Example
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'
);

For step-by-step instructions on creating SSH tunnel connections and configuring an SSH bastion server to accept connections from Materialize, check this guide.

Network security connections

ALPHA! This feature is in alpha. It has known performance or stability issues and is under active development. It is not subject to our backwards compatibility guarantees.

You must contact us to enable this feature in your Materialize region.

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.

CREATE CONNECTION IF NOT EXISTS connection_name TO AWS PRIVATELINK ( field = val , )
Field Value Required Description
SERVICE NAME text The name of the AWS PrivateLink service.
AVAILABILITY ZONES text[] The IDs of the AWS availability zones in which the service is accessible.

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.

WARNING! Do not grant access to the root principal for the Materialize AWS account. Doing so will allow any Materialize customer to create a connection to your AWS PrivateLink service.

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.

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, and Postgres connections.

Syntax

CREATE CONNECTION IF NOT EXISTS connection_name TO SSH TUNNEL ( field = val , )

Connection options

Field Value Required Description
HOST text The hostname of the SSH bastion server.
PORT integer The port to connect to.
USER text The name of the user to connect as.

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 all SSH tunnel connections:

SELECT * FROM mz_ssh_tunnel_connections;
 id    | public_key_1                          | public_key_2
-------+---------------------------------------+---------------------------------------
 ...   | ssh-ed25519 AAAA...76RH materialize   | ssh-ed25519 AAAA...hLYV materialize
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