kates-connect-fips

packaged by Chainguard

Chainguard Container for kates-connect-fips

FIPS-enabled Kafka Connect image for the Strimzi operator, bundling Debezium CDC connectors for PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB and SQL Server, Apicurio Registry converters, and Aiven JDBC source and sink connectors.

Chainguard Containers are regularly-updated, secure-by-default container images.

Download this Container Image

For those with access, this container image is available on cgr.dev:

docker pull cgr.dev/ORGANIZATION/kates-connect-fips:latest

Be sure to replace the ORGANIZATION placeholder with the name used for your organization's private repository within the Chainguard Registry.

Compatibility Notes

This image is comparable to the upstream Connect image and is built on the same Strimzi Kafka base, with four differences:

• The Debezium Scripting SMT is installed inside every connector directory rather than as its own entry on the plugin path. Kafka gives each plugin.path entry an isolated classloader, and ContentBasedRouter and Filter extend a base class that ships only inside the connector directories, so a standalone entry leaves both transformations undiscoverable. Upstream's image has this defect.
• The Oracle CDC connector is not included. Its artifact is Apache-2.0, but building it requires Oracle-licensed dependencies.
• Provided-scope JARs such as connect-api, kafka-clients and slf4j-api are not bundled. A Connect worker supplies these from its own classpath, so shipping them adds unreachable code and its vulnerabilities.
• Component versions are newer: Debezium 3.6.2, Aiven JDBC 6.12.0, and Apicurio Registry 3.3.3.

FIPS Support

This image routes JCE and JSSE through the validated BouncyCastle FIPS provider. JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS sets the BCFIPS module path and -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStoreType=FIPS; without the second flag the FIPS policy sets the keystore type to BCFKS while the shipped trust store remains JKS, and anything constructing an HTTPS client fails before it makes a request.

The Apicurio Registry client artifacts are not FIPS builds, because no FIPS build of them exists. Avro and Protobuf serialization performs no cryptography, so the exposure is the registry client's HTTPS path when it is pointed at an https:// registry.

Prerequisites

• A running Strimzi Cluster Operator.
• A Kafka cluster the worker can reach, such as a Strimzi Kafka resource.

Getting Started

This image has no entrypoint. The Strimzi Cluster Operator supplies the command, so deploy it through a KafkaConnect resource rather than running it directly.

Tell the operator about the image by listing it against the Kafka versions it supports, in a values file:

# operator-values.yaml
extraEnvs:
  - name: STRIMZI_KAFKA_CONNECT_IMAGES
    value: |
      4.2.0=cgr.dev/ORGANIZATION/kates-connect-fips:latest
      4.2.1=cgr.dev/ORGANIZATION/kates-connect-fips:latest
      4.3.0=cgr.dev/ORGANIZATION/kates-connect-fips:latest
      4.3.1=cgr.dev/ORGANIZATION/kates-connect-fips:latest

Install the operator with that file:

helm install strimzi oci://quay.io/strimzi-helm/strimzi-kafka-operator -f operator-values.yaml

The operator validates this variable at startup and requires an entry for every Kafka version its release supports. A missing version stops the operator from starting.

Create the KafkaConnect resource:

# connect.yaml
apiVersion: kafka.strimzi.io/v1
kind: KafkaConnect
metadata:
  name: kates
spec:
  version: 4.3.1
  replicas: 1
  bootstrapServers: my-cluster-kafka-bootstrap:9093
  tls:
    trustedCertificates:
      - secretName: my-cluster-cluster-ca-cert
        pattern: "*.crt"
  groupId: kates-connect
  configStorageTopic: connect-configs
  offsetStorageTopic: connect-offsets
  statusStorageTopic: connect-status
  config:
    config.storage.replication.factor: 1
    offset.storage.replication.factor: 1
    status.storage.replication.factor: 1
    plugin.discovery: service_load

Apply it and wait for the worker to become ready:

kubectl apply -f connect.yaml
kubectl wait kafkaconnect/kates --for=condition=Ready --timeout=10m

Forward the worker's REST API port:

kubectl port-forward svc/kates-connect-api 8083:8083

From another shell, list the bundled plugins:

curl -s "http://localhost:8083/connector-plugins?connectorsOnly=false"

connectorsOnly=false is required to see transformations and converters. The default returns connectors only, so a check for a transformation appears to fail when the plugin is present and working.

Configuration

Set plugin.discovery to service_load in the KafkaConnect resource, as shown above. Every plugin in this image carries a ServiceLoader manifest, so the worker can resolve plugins from those manifests instead of scanning the classpath reflectively, which cuts worker startup scan time substantially. Kafka warns on startup under the default setting, and service_load is becoming the upstream default.

Documentation and Resources

• Chainguard Containers documentation
• Strimzi documentation
• Debezium connector documentation
• Apicurio Registry SerDes documentation
• Aiven JDBC connector documentation

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Trademarks

This software listing is packaged by Chainguard. The trademarks set forth in this offering are owned by their respective companies, and use of them does not imply any affiliation, sponsorship, or endorsement by such companies.