You can configure collecting Kafka data using a Broker VM Kafka Collector applet applet or connector (onboarded after July 26, 2026):
| Collection Method | Description |
| ------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Kafka Collector applet overview | Enables you to monitor and collect events from Topics on self-managed on-prem Kafka clusters directly to your log repository for query and visualization purposes. The applet supports Kafka setups with no authentication, with SSL authentication, and SASL SSL authentication. |
| Link to Kafka Collector applet instructions | [Activate Apache Kafka Collector](../generic-on-premise-data-collectors/broker-vm-data-collector-applets/activate-apache-kafka-collector) |
| Link to connector (onboarded after July 26, 2026) | [Kafka](kafka/kafka) |