---
title: Kafka Console Setup
description: >-
  Set up Kafka Console, including prerequisites, Agent configuration, and the
  additional steps required to read messages, create topics, and delete topics.
breadcrumbs: Docs > Data Streams Monitoring > Kafka Console > Kafka Console Setup
---

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.datadoghq.com/llms.txt).

# Kafka Console Setup

{% callout %}
# Important note for users on the following Datadog sites: app.ddog-gov.com, us2.ddog-gov.com

{% alert level="danger" %}
This product is not supported for your selected [Datadog site](https://docs.datadoghq.com/getting_started/site.md). ({% placeholder "user-datadog-site-name" /%}).
{% /alert %}

{% /callout %}

This page covers the prerequisites and setup steps for Kafka Console.

## Prerequisites{% #prerequisites %}

### Datadog Agent version{% #datadog-agent-version %}

Datadog Agent version 7.78 or later is required.

### ACL permissions{% #acl-permissions %}

If your Kafka cluster uses ACLs, the Datadog Agent user requires the following minimum permissions:

| Resource Name   | Resource Type | Operation         |
| --------------- | ------------- | ----------------- |
| `kafka-cluster` | `CLUSTER`     | `Describe`        |
| `kafka-cluster` | `CLUSTER`     | `DescribeConfigs` |
| `*`             | `TOPIC`       | `Describe`        |
| `*`             | `TOPIC`       | `DescribeConfigs` |
| `*`             | `GROUP`       | `Describe`        |

## Setup{% #setup %}

Enable Kafka Console by setting `enable_cluster_monitoring: true` in the [Kafka Consumer](https://docs.datadoghq.com/integrations/kafka-consumer.md?tab=containerized) integration.

For additional environment-specific guidance on configuring the integration, go to the [Kafka Console setup page](https://app.datadoghq.com/data-streams/kafka/setup) and click Get Started. Then choose your environment and follow the instructions.

{% image
   source="https://docs.dd-static.net/images/data_streams/kafka_setup-2.37e9d3d8dc59177d8b966d26ac5c069a.png?auto=format&fit=max&w=850 1x, https://docs.dd-static.net/images/data_streams/kafka_setup-2.37e9d3d8dc59177d8b966d26ac5c069a.png?auto=format&fit=max&w=850&dpr=2 2x"
   alt="The Kafka Console setup dialog showing environment selection, security protocol, schema registry options, and Kubernetes configuration instructions" /%}

You can copy the setup instructions directly to an AI agent with Copy for AI.

## Enable Kafka actions{% #enable-kafka-actions %}

Kafka actions let you read messages, create topics, and delete topics from Kafka Console. This section applies only if you want to use these actions. Skip it if you only need monitoring.

### Remote configuration{% #remote-configuration %}

[Remote configuration](https://docs.datadoghq.com/remote_configuration.md) must be enabled at three levels:

1. At the [organization level](https://app.datadoghq.com/organization-settings/remote-config).
1. At the [Agent level](https://docs.datadoghq.com/remote_configuration.md#enable-remote-configuration).
1. At the [API key level](https://docs.datadoghq.com/account_management/api-app-keys.md).

### Additional ACL permissions{% #additional-acl-permissions %}

The Datadog Agent runs each action on your Kafka cluster. In addition to the ACL permissions listed in Prerequisites, grant the Agent user the ACLs for each action you plan to use:

| Action         | Resource Name | Resource Type | Operation |
| -------------- | ------------- | ------------- | --------- |
| Read messages  | `*`           | `TOPIC`       | `Read`    |
| Create a topic | `*`           | `TOPIC`       | `Create`  |
| Delete a topic | `*`           | `TOPIC`       | `Delete`  |

The `*` resource name applies the operation to all topics. To restrict an action to specific topics, replace `*` with those topic names.

### User permissions{% #user-permissions %}

Each action requires a user permission:

| Action         | Permission                                   |
| -------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| Read messages  | `Data Streams Monitoring Capture Messages`   |
| Create a topic | `Data Streams Monitoring Kafka Create Topic` |
| Delete a topic | `Data Streams Monitoring Kafka Delete Topic` |

Datadog records each Kafka action in [Audit Trail](https://docs.datadoghq.com/account_management/audit_trail.md) under the Data Streams Monitoring category. Each entry includes the user, topic, and cluster.

{% alert level="warning" %}
Deleting a topic permanently removes the topic and all of its messages. Grant the `Data Streams Monitoring Kafka Delete Topic` permission only to users who manage your Kafka topics.
{% /alert %}

You can verify your current permissions on your [Profile page](https://app.datadoghq.com/personal-settings/profile). To enable permissions, edit an existing role or create a role on the [Roles page](https://app.datadoghq.com/organization-settings/roles). If you do not have permission to modify roles, contact your organization's administrator.

{% collapsible-section %}
#### Create a role and assign it to users

#### 1. Create a role

1. Navigate to the [Roles page](https://app.datadoghq.com/organization-settings/roles) in Datadog.
1. Click + New Role in the top-right corner.Important alert (level: info): If you see "Read Only" instead of the "+ New Role button", you don't have permission to create roles. Contact your Datadog administrator for assistance.
1. Enter a descriptive name for your role (for example, "Kafka Actions Access").
1. In the Search Permissions field, enter the name of a permission from the User permissions table (for example, `Data Streams Monitoring Capture Messages`).
1. Select the permission from the search results to enable it for this role. Repeat for each permission you want to grant the role.
1. Click Save.
1. Confirm your role was created successfully by searching for it in the roles list.

#### 2. Assign the role to users

1. Go to the [Users page](https://app.datadoghq.com/organization-settings/users) in Datadog.
1. Find and click on the user you want to assign the role to.
1. In the user details panel, click Edit next to their name.Important alert (level: info): If you don't see an Edit button, you need administrator privileges to modify user roles. Contact your Datadog administrator.
1. In the modal that opens, locate the Roles section.
1. Add your newly created role to the user.
1. Click Save.
1. Look for a User updated confirmation message to verify the change was successful.

{% /collapsible-section %}

## Further reading{% #further-reading %}

Additional helpful documentation, links, and articles:

- [Troubleshoot Kafka issues across every layer of your stack with Kafka Console](https://www.datadoghq.com/blog/kafka-console/)