Apache Kafka 4.2 on Ubuntu 24.04 by cloudimg

## Apache Kafka 4.2 on Ubuntu 24.04 by cloudimg

Pre configured Apache Kafka 4.2.0 on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, purpose built for Microsoft Azure and maintained by cloudimg. Single VM KRaft cluster (no ZooKeeper), SASL SCRAM SHA 256 authentication, per VM cloudimg admin user provisioned at first boot via kafka storage.sh format add scram, and the AKHQ Web UI bundled on TCP 8080 for topic browsing, consumer group monitoring, and ACL management.

Why Choose cloudimg?

* 24/7 Expert Support Guaranteed 24 hour response, one hour average for critical issues. support@cloudimg.co.uk

* Production Ready from Launch Pre configured, security patched, validated

* Azure Native Integration Azure Linux Agent, cloud init, Gen2 Hyper V with UEFI boot

* One Credential, Two Walls A single 32 character random password generated at first boot covers Kafka SCRAM SHA 256 broker auth AND AKHQ HTTP basic auth on the Web UI. No two VMs share credentials.

What is Included

* Apache Kafka 4.2.0 with Scala 2.13 binaries, SHA 512 verified at install time

* OpenJDK 17 JRE headless from Ubuntu noble main

* KRaft single broker single controller cluster (process.roles=broker,controller). No ZooKeeper.

* SASL SCRAM SHA 256 listener on TCP 9092 (broker) gated by the cloudimg admin user

* PLAINTEXT controller listener on 127.0.0.1:9093 (loopback only)

* AKHQ 0.27.0 Apache 2.0 Web UI on TCP 8080 with HTTP basic auth gated by the same cloudimg credential

* Pre created cloudimg topic (1 partition, replication 1) at first boot via kafka topics.sh

* Per VM admin password BCrypt style stored in cluster metadata, plain copy in /stage/scripts/kafka-credentials.log mode 0600 root only

* Heap sizing tuned for Standard_B2s (Xms 512 Xmx 1024 MiB)

* Single systemd unit kafka.service plus akhq.service

* Tiered storage GA, queues for Kafka KIP 932, modern controller heartbeat, JBOD log directory ergonomics

* Ubuntu 24.04 LTS base with latest security patches at build time

Use Cases

* Real time event streaming for clickstream, telemetry, IoT, observability

* Event driven architectures with exactly once semantics

* Streaming ETL into Azure Data Lake, Azure Blob Storage, Snowflake, Postgres

* CDC pipelines for materialised view maintenance

* Microservices event bus for command query separation patterns

* Single tenant production message broker with the AKHQ Web UI for operations

Getting Started

1. Deploy from the Azure Marketplace

2. SSH as azureuser

3. sudo cat /stage/scripts/kafka-credentials.log to retrieve per VM credentials

4. Open http://your-public-ip:8080/ for AKHQ and authenticate as cloudimg

5. Restrict NSG inbound on 9092 and 8080 to trusted IPs

6. Produce and consume on the cloudimg topic with kafka console producer.sh and kafka console consumer.sh

7. Tune /etc/default/kafka for KAFKA_HEAP_OPTS and JVM options

Technical Specifications

* Apache Kafka 4.2.0 (Scala 2.13)

* Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat)

* OpenJDK 17 JRE headless

* Mode: KRaft single broker single controller

* Broker listener: SASL_PLAINTEXT 0.0.0.0:9092 with SCRAM SHA 256

* Controller listener: PLAINTEXT 127.0.0.1:9093

* Web UI: AKHQ 0.27.0 on TCP 8080 with HTTP basic auth

* Heap: Xms 512m Xmx 1024m

* Service: systemd (kafka.service, akhq.service, kafka firstboot.service)

* Data dir: /var/lib/kafka/data; install dir: /opt/kafka

* Recommended Size: Standard_B2s

* VM Generation: Hyper V Gen2 with UEFI boot

Support

cloudimg provides 24/7/365 expert technical support. Contact support@cloudimg.co.uk.

Visit www.cloudimg.co.uk/guides/apache-kafka-4-2-on-ubuntu-24-04-azure for the full user guide.

Apache Kafka is a trademark of the Apache Software Foundation. AKHQ is a trademark of its respective owners. This image is a repackaged upstream distribution provided by cloudimg. Additional charges apply for build, maintenance, and 24/7 support.