MariaDB to Kafka
real-time replication
TwinCommit replicates MariaDB to Apache Kafka in real time by reading the MariaDB transaction log and applying every committed change exactly once and in commit order. Use it to publish every committed MariaDB change as an event stream, with no triggers or capture tables on the source.
MariaDB
log reader
commit-ordered · exactly-once
Kafka
native writer
How capture works on MariaDB
TwinCommit reads the row-based binary log as a replica using MariaDB GTIDs, and follows Galera cluster failover automatically.
Prerequisites
- ✓binlog_format = ROW and binlog_row_image = FULL
- ✓REPLICATION SLAVE and BINLOG MONITOR grants
- ✓log_slave_updates on Galera nodes
How apply works on Kafka
Each source transaction is published with Kafka transactions, so consumers using read_committed never see a partial transaction. Messages are keyed by primary key in JSON, Avro or Protobuf.
Requirements
- ✓A topic naming template
- ✓Producer ACLs including transactional.id
- ✓Optional Schema Registry for Avro and Protobuf
Setup
Set up MariaDB → Kafka in four steps
- 1
Prepare MariaDB
Run twincommit check. It verifies binlog_format = row and binlog_row_image = full and the other prerequisites, and prints the exact fix for anything missing.
- 2
Point at Kafka
Add a target block for Kafka. TwinCommit can generate target DDL with twincommit ddl -apply.
- 3
Snapshot
twincommit snapshot copies each table under a brief share lock and records the exact log position.
- 4
Stream
twincommit run streams every committed change from that position, exactly once and in commit order.
source:
type: mariadb
dsn: ${SOURCE_DSN}
server_id: 4201
target:
type: kafka
bootstrap_servers: broker-1:9092,broker-2:9092
topic: "{schema}.{table}"
format: avro
schema_registry: http://registry:8081
tables:
- source: SALES.ORDERS
- source: SALES.ORDER_LINES
exclude_columns: [INTERNAL_NOTES]MariaDB to Kafka replication FAQ
How does TwinCommit replicate MariaDB to Kafka?
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TwinCommit reads changes from the MariaDB transaction log, buffers them per transaction, and applies each committed transaction to Kafka in commit order. Each source transaction is published with Kafka transactions, so consumers using read_committed never see a partial transaction. Messages are keyed by primary key in JSON, Avro or Protobuf.
Does MariaDB to Kafka replication need triggers or capture tables?
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No. TwinCommit reads the MariaDB log directly and creates no objects in the source database.
Is MariaDB to Kafka replication exactly-once?
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Yes. TwinCommit commits its checkpoint in the same Kafka transaction as the data, so a crash or restart never loses or duplicates a transaction.
What MariaDB versions are supported?
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MariaDB 10.6, 10.11, 11.x · Galera Cluster · SkySQL · Amazon RDS for MariaDB.
Stream MariaDB to Kafka today.
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