Message from Apache Kafka to IBM MQ using IBM Integration bus

Question

Since IIB v10.0.0.7 I can use KafkaConsumer node to receive messages that was published on a Kafka topic.

I need some client which will be able to recieve message from Kafka and put it in IBM MQ and get message from IBM MQ and publish in to Kafka topic. I alredy have IIB and IBM MQ. Kafka is messaging system of one of integration systems.

Can I somehow put received message from Kafka in IBM queue using KafkaConsumer node and MQOutput node ? Or get message from queue with MQOutput and publish it to Kafka topic with KafkaProducer node ?

Or it is not a good idea to mix this tecnologies in such a way and should look for some another workaround ?

Answer 1

Hi you could use Kafka Connect connectors. https://www.confluent.io/product/connectors/ There are community connectors for MQ.

Alternatively, if you're using IBM MessageHub, i.e. Kafka-as-a-service in the IBM Cloud, there you can have an MQ-to-Kafka bridge ran as a service itself. https://console.bluemix.net/docs/services/MessageHub/messagehub088.html#bridges

Answer 2

I hear this question every week...

The article “Apache Kafka vs. Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)—Friends, Enemies, or Frenemies? (https://www.confluent.io/blog/apache-kafka-vs-enterprise-service-bus-esb-friends-enemies-or-frenemies/)” discusses why Kafka is not competitive but complementary to integration and messaging solutions (including IBM MQ) and how to integrate both.

Answer 3

IIB can write to IBM MQ and one could IBM MQ source connector to write to kafka. https://docs.confluent.io/kafka-connect-ibmmq-source/current/

Usage of kafka or IIB will be use to use dependent. Kafka is your messaging platform with persistence, ability connect to different sources and sinks and if needed enrich the messages on the fly in real/near realtime.