:_mod-docs-content-type: PROCEDURE

// Module included in the following assemblies:
//
// assembly-security.adoc

[id='configuring-internal-clients-to-trust-cluster-ca-{context}']
= Configuring internal clients to trust the cluster CA

[role="_abstract"]
This procedure describes how to configure a Kafka client that resides inside the Kubernetes cluster — connecting to a TLS listener — to trust the cluster CA certificate.

The easiest way to achieve this for an internal client is to use a volume mount to access the `Secrets` containing the necessary certificates and keys.

Follow the steps to configure trust certificates that are signed by the cluster CA for Java-based Kafka Producer, Consumer, and Streams APIs.

Choose the steps to follow according to the certificate format of the cluster CA: PKCS #12 (`.p12`) or PEM (`.crt`).

The steps describe how to mount the Cluster Secret that verifies the identity of the Kafka cluster to the client pod.

.Prerequisites

* The Cluster Operator must be running.
* There needs to be a `Kafka` resource within the Kubernetes cluster.
* You need a Kafka client application inside the Kubernetes cluster that will connect using TLS, and needs to trust the cluster CA certificate.
* The client application must be running in the same namespace as the `Kafka` resource.

.Using PKCS #12 format (.p12)

. Mount the cluster Secret as a volume when defining the client pod.
+
For example:
+
[source,shell,subs="+quotes,attributes"]
----
kind: Pod
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  name: client-pod
spec:
  containers:
  - name: client-name
    image: client-name
    volumeMounts:
    - name: secret-volume
      mountPath: /data/p12
    env:
    - name: SECRET_PASSWORD
      valueFrom:
        secretKeyRef:
          name: my-secret
          key: my-password
  volumes:
  - name: secret-volume
    secret:
      secretName: my-cluster-cluster-ca-cert
----
+
Here we're mounting the following:
+
* The PKCS #12 file into an exact path, which can be configured
* The password into an environment variable, where it can be used for Java configuration

. Configure the Kafka client with the following properties:
+
* A security protocol option:
** `security.protocol: SSL` when using TLS for encryption (with or without mTLS authentication).
** `security.protocol: SASL_SSL` when using SCRAM-SHA authentication over TLS.
* `ssl.truststore.location` with the truststore location where the certificates were imported.
* `ssl.truststore.password` with the password for accessing the truststore.
* `ssl.truststore.type=PKCS12` to identify the truststore type.

.Using PEM format (.crt)

. Mount the cluster Secret as a volume when defining the client pod.
+
For example:
+
[source,shell,subs="+quotes,attributes"]
----
kind: Pod
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  name: client-pod
spec:
  containers:
  - name: client-name
    image: client-name
    volumeMounts:
    - name: secret-volume
      mountPath: /data/crt
  volumes:
  - name: secret-volume
    secret:
      secretName: my-cluster-cluster-ca-cert
----

. Use the extracted certificate to configure a TLS connection in clients that use certificates in X.509 format.
