kafka-kraft-firecracker

What problem does it solve?

Deploying and operating an Apache Kafka broker in KRaft mode inside a Firecracker microVM without Docker or ZooKeeper, with host networking, bootstrapping, and runtime hardening handled end-to-end.

Core Features & Use Cases

• Host prerequisites & validation: checks for /dev/kvm, required binaries, and package manager paths before proceeding.
• Host networking: helper to create TAP interfaces, enable forwarding, and add NAT rules so guests have outbound connectivity.
• Guest bootstrap & service: bootstrap script downloads Kafka, writes KRaft server.properties, formats storage, and installs a systemd service to run the broker/controller.
• Integration helpers: proxy-mux and broker inventory for host-side port proxies so relays and consumers can reach guest brokers.
• Monitoring & hardening: watchdog, heartbeat, and alerting hooks plus guidance to keep controller listeners private and run Kafka as a non-root user.
• Use case: spin up a lightweight, isolated single-node Kafka broker for local development, CI, or internal pipeline transport for systems like hook.

Quick Start

Boot a Firecracker VM with host TAP networking, copy the bootstrap script into the guest, and run it as root to install and start Kafka KRaft.