SLV Install - Kafka

Why Kafka Cluster?

Apache Kafka provides durable, high-throughput event streaming that powers real-time data pipelines, distributed services, and analytics. Deploying a Kafka cluster with slv install delivers consistent broker configuration, topic defaults, and observability hooks without maintaining bespoke scripts.

Highlights

Kafka: https://kafka.apache.org/
Handles millions of messages per second with strong durability guarantees.
Bundled with AKHQ UI for quick topic inspection, consumer lag monitoring, and debugging.

Run the Installer

Aim slv install at the hosts that will run Kafka brokers and pick the Kafka Cluster option.

bash
$ slv install -i 1.1.1.1,
🚀 Installing software components...
? Select Software Component to Install (Redis)
  Redis
  TiDB (MySQL Cluster)
  Grafana
  Prometheus
  Node Exporter
❯ Kafka Cluster

Note: Replace 1.1.1.1 with the IP address of your own server.

Review the Details

Double-check the inventory and playbook path before moving forward. If you need to scope to specific hosts in your inventory, pass --limit.

bash
🚀 Installing software components...
? Select Software Component to Install (Redis) › Kafka Cluster
✅ You selected: Kafka Cluster

📋 Installation Details:
Software: Kafka Cluster
Inventory: 1.1.1.1,
Playbook: /Users/fumi/.slv/template/0.9.800/ansible/cmn/software/install-kafka.yml
? Do you want to proceed with the installation? (y/N) ›

Observe Ansible Execution

slv invokes Ansible to configure Kafka brokers, systemd services, and supporting components such as ZooKeeper (if required by your template).

bash
🚀 Running ansible: ansible-playbook -i 1.1.1.1, -u solv /Users/fumi/.slv/template/0.9.800/ansible/cmn/software/install-kafka.yml

PLAY [Install and configure Kafka Cluster] ***********************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *******************************************************************************

Verify the Endpoints

When the playbook finishes, the CLI prints the broker endpoint and AKHQ UI address so you can start publishing and inspecting messages immediately.

bash
✅ Installation completed successfully!

🌐 Access Information:

Kafka Broker Endpoint: 1.1.1.1:9092
AKHQ UI: http://1.1.1.1:5000

Dashboard

Access AKHQ at http://1.1.1.1:5000 to browse topics, inspect partition lag, and manage consumer groups. Pair it with Grafana dashboards (for example, Kafka Exporter metrics) to complete your streaming observability stack.