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Building an App with Debezium

Abstract

Change Data Capture (CDC) tools like Debezium provide an efficient way to track and propagate changes in databases, enabling real-time data synchronization across systems. This article explores the process of building an app using Debezium as a CDC tool. We highlight its integration with Apache Kafka, discuss its capabilities, and provide an implementation example demonstrating its potential in modern app development.


Keywords

Change Data Capture, Debezium, Apache Kafka, Real-Time Data Synchronization, Modern App Development


Introduction

As businesses increasingly rely on real-time analytics and seamless data synchronization, Change Data Capture (CDC) tools have become vital components in modern architectures. CDC tools allow applications to track changes in databases and propagate them to downstream systems, ensuring consistency and up-to-date information.

This article focuses on Debezium, an open-source CDC tool that integrates with Apache Kafka. Debezium captures changes in source databases and streams them in real time, making it an excellent choice for data pipelines, event-driven architectures, and microservices.


Why Choose Debezium for CDC?

Real-Time Change Tracking

Debezium captures insert, update, and delete events from databases, enabling real-time data replication and synchronization.

Broad Database Support

Debezium supports a variety of databases, including MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and SQL Server, making it versatile for heterogeneous environments.

Integration with Kafka

By leveraging Apache Kafka, Debezium provides a scalable and distributed platform for streaming changes, ensuring fault tolerance and reliability.


Implementation Example: Building a Real-Time Data Synchronization App

To demonstrate Debezium's capabilities, let's build a real-time data synchronization app that streams changes from a MySQL database to a Kafka topic.

Setup and Configuration

  1. Install Apache Kafka and Zookeeper

    Download and install Kafka. Start the Kafka and Zookeeper services.

  2. Set Up MySQL Database

    Configure the MySQL database with binlog replication enabled.

  3. Deploy Debezium

    Use Docker to deploy Debezium's Kafka Connect image.

docker run -it --rm \
  --name connect \
  -p 8083:8083 \
  -e GROUP_ID=1 \
  -e CONFIG_STORAGE_TOPIC=my-connect-configs \
  -e OFFSET_STORAGE_TOPIC=my-connect-offsets \
  debezium/connect:latest
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  1. Create a Kafka Connector for MySQL Define a JSON configuration file for the connector
{
  "name": "mysql-connector",
  "config": {
    "connector.class": "io.debezium.connector.mysql.MySqlConnector",
    "tasks.max": "1",
    "database.hostname": "localhost",
    "database.port": "3306",
    "database.user": "debezium",
    "database.password": "password",
    "database.server.id": "184054",
    "database.server.name": "dbserver1",
    "database.include.list": "inventory",
    "table.include.list": "inventory.products",
    "database.history.kafka.bootstrap.servers": "localhost:9092",
    "database.history.kafka.topic": "schema-changes.inventory"
  }
}

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Post this configuration to the Kafka Connect REST API:

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data @mysql-connector-config.json \
  http://localhost:8083/connectors
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Consuming Changes from Kafka

from kafka import KafkaConsumer

consumer = KafkaConsumer(
    'dbserver1.inventory.products',
    bootstrap_servers=['localhost:9092'],
    auto_offset_reset='earliest',
    enable_auto_commit=True,
    group_id='my-group'
)

print("Listening for changes...")
for message in consumer:
    print(f"Key: {message.key}, Value: {message.value}")
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Results and Analysis

The application captures changes in the products table of the MySQL database and streams them to the dbserver1.inventory.products Kafka topic. Consumers can process these changes in real time, enabling functionalities like:

  • Analytics: Real-time insights based on data changes.
  • Cache Updates: Keeping caches in sync with the database.
  • Event Triggers: Initiating workflows based on database events.

By leveraging Debezium and Kafka, the system ensures low latency and fault tolerance, making it highly reliable for critical applications.


Conclusion

Debezium simplifies the implementation of Change Data Capture in modern applications. Its seamless integration with Kafka, broad database support, and real-time capabilities make it a powerful tool for building event-driven systems and ensuring data consistency. By leveraging Debezium, developers can focus on innovating application logic without worrying about data synchronization challenges.


References

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