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.