Sink data to NATS and NATS JetStream

This guide describes how to sink data from RisingWave to NATS subjects using the NATS sink connector in RisingWave. Both NATS and NATS JetStream are supported by this connector.

NATS is an open source messaging system for cloud native applications. It provides a lightweight publish-subscribe architecture for high performance messaging.

NATS JetStream is a streaming data platform built on top of NATS. It enables real-time and historical access to streams of data via durable subscriptions and consumer groups.

PUBLIC PREVIEW This feature is currently in public preview, meaning it is nearing the final product but may not yet be fully stable. If you encounter any issues or have feedback, please reach out to us via our Slack channel. Your input is valuable in helping us improve this feature. For more details, see our Public Preview Feature List.

Prerequisites

Before sinking data from RisingWave to NATS or NATS JetStream, please ensure the following:

• The RisingWave cluster is running.
• A NATS or NATS JetStream server is running and accessible from your RisingWave cluster.
• Create a NATS subject that you want to sink data to.
• You have the permission to publish data to the NATS subject.

Syntax

To sink data from RisingWave to a NATS subject, create a sink using the syntax below:

CREATE SINK [ IF NOT EXISTS ] sink_name
[FROM sink_from | AS select_query]
WITH (
   connector='nats',
   server_url='<your nats server>:<port>', [ <another_server_url_if_available>, ...]
   subject='<your subject>',

 -- optional parameters
   connect_mode=<connect_mode>
   username='<your user name>',
   password='<your password>'
   jwt='<your jwt>',
   nkey='<your nkey>',
   type='<sink data type>'
);

After the sink is created, RisingWave will continuously sink data to the NATS subject in append-only mode.

The NATS sink connector in RisingWave provides at-least-once delivery semantics. Events may be redelivered in case of failures.

According to the NATS documentation, stream names must adhere to subject naming rules as well as be friendly to the file system. Here are the recommended guidelines for stream names:

• Use alphanumeric values.
• Avoid spaces, tabs, periods (.), greater than (>) or asterisks (*).
• Do not include path separators (forward slash or backward slash).
• Keep the name length limited to 32 characters as the JetStream storage directories include the account, stream name, and consumer name.
• Avoid using reserved file names like NUL or LPT1.
• Be cautious of case sensitivity in file systems. To prevent collisions, ensure that stream or account names do not clash due to case differences. For example, Foo and foo would collide on Windows or macOS systems.

Parameters

Field	Notes
server_url	Required. URLs of the NATS server, in the format of address:port. If multiple addresses are specified, use commas to separate them.
subject	Required. NATS subject that you want to sink data to.
connect_mode	Required. Authentication mode for the connection. Allowed values: plain: No authentication; user_and_password: Use user name and password for authentication. For this option, username and password must be specified; credential: Use JSON Web Token (JWT) and NKeys for authentication. For this option, jwt and nkey must be specified.
jwt and nkey	JWT and NKEY for authentication. For details, see JWT and NKeys.
username and password	Conditional. The client user name and password. Required when connect_mode is user_and_password.
type	Required. Sink data type. Its value should be append-only.