// Module included in the following assemblies:
//
// deploying/assembly_deploy-kafka-connect.adoc

[id='assembly-creating-managing-connectors-{context}']

[role="_abstract"]
= Creating and managing connectors

When you have created a container image for your connector plug-in, you need to create a connector instance in your Kafka Connect cluster.
You can then configure, monitor, and manage a running connector instance.

A connector is an instance of a particular _connector class_ that knows how to communicate with the relevant external system in terms of messages.
Connectors are available for many external systems, or you can create your own.

You can create _source_ and _sink_ types of connector.

Source connector:: A source connector is a runtime entity that fetches data from an external system and feeds it to Kafka as messages.
Sink connector:: A sink connector is a runtime entity that fetches messages from Kafka topics and feeds them to an external system.

//overview of connector APIs
include::modules/con-deploy-kafka-connect-config-connector-api.adoc[leveloffset=+1]
//Procedure to deploy a KafkaConnector resource
include::modules/proc-deploying-kafkaconnector.adoc[leveloffset=+1]
//Procedure to restart a Kafka connector
include::modules/proc-manual-restart-connector.adoc[leveloffset=+1]
//Procedure to restart a Kafka connector task
include::modules/proc-manual-restart-connector-task.adoc[leveloffset=+1]
//Tips to expose the Kafka Connect API
include::modules/con-exposing-kafka-connect-api.adoc[leveloffset=+1]
