Kafka Topic DelegationTokenExpiredException

The delegation token has expired.

Understanding Kafka and Its Purpose

Apache Kafka is a distributed event streaming platform used by thousands of companies for high-performance data pipelines, streaming analytics, data integration, and mission-critical applications. It is designed to handle real-time data feeds with high throughput and low latency. Kafka is often used for building real-time streaming data pipelines that reliably get data between systems or applications.

Identifying the Symptom: DelegationTokenExpiredException

When working with Kafka, you might encounter the DelegationTokenExpiredException. This error typically manifests when a client attempts to authenticate using a delegation token that has expired. The error message might look something like this:

org.apache.kafka.common.errors.DelegationTokenExpiredException: The delegation token has expired.

This exception indicates that the token used for authentication is no longer valid.

Details About the DelegationTokenExpiredException

The DelegationTokenExpiredException is thrown when a client tries to use a delegation token that has surpassed its expiration time. Delegation tokens in Kafka are used to allow clients to authenticate without needing to pass their credentials directly. This is particularly useful in scenarios where security is a concern, and you want to minimize the exposure of sensitive credentials.

Why Tokens Expire

Tokens are designed to expire after a certain period to enhance security. This ensures that even if a token is compromised, it cannot be used indefinitely. The expiration time is set when the token is created and can be configured based on your security requirements.

Steps to Resolve the DelegationTokenExpiredException

To resolve this issue, you will need to either renew the existing token or issue a new one. Here are the steps you can follow:

Renewing the Delegation Token

  1. Identify the token that has expired. You can do this by checking the logs or the error message.
  2. Use the Kafka command-line tools to renew the token. The following command can be used to renew a token:
    bin/kafka-delegation-tokens.sh --bootstrap-server <broker> --renew --hmac <token-hmac>
  1. Replace <broker> with your Kafka broker address and <token-hmac> with the HMAC of the token you wish to renew.
  2. Verify that the token has been renewed by attempting to authenticate again.

Issuing a New Delegation Token

  1. If renewing the token is not possible, you can issue a new token using the following command:
    bin/kafka-delegation-tokens.sh --bootstrap-server <broker> --create --max-life-time-period <time-in-ms>
  1. Set the <time-in-ms> to the desired expiration time for the new token.
  2. Update your client configuration to use the new token for authentication.

Additional Resources

For more information on Kafka delegation tokens, you can refer to the official Kafka Documentation. Additionally, the KIP-48 provides detailed insights into the delegation token support in Kafka.

By following these steps, you should be able to resolve the DelegationTokenExpiredException and ensure your Kafka clients can authenticate successfully.

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