FAQs and Resources
General questions
Is the pricing model fixed?
Our standard pricing can always be adapted to special customer requirements.What is the procedure for new features or bug fix requests?
The paid license includes an annual maintenance fee that covers patches for bugs and vulnerabilities.Customers are notified when a new version is released and can download it from the INIT repository, independent of the Confluent hub. This allows us to deliver patches much faster.
What is the ETA for new features or bug fix requests?
The ETA for bug fixes is usually a couple of days.What kind of service is included in the annual maintenance fee?
The annual maintenance fee includes all patches provided to fix bugs, security issues, transitive library updates, etc.It does not include, for example, potentially major enhancements to the functionality of the software. These enhancements may be made available through minor and major release updates. This is comparable to major release upgrades of other software systems. We reserve the right to charge an upgrade fee for these.
How can I test INIT Connectors?
An evaluation version of the connectors, limited to 30 days of use, can be downloaded from the INIT repository. This allows a prospective customer to test the connectors at an early stage.Simply contact connector-contact@init-software.de to get access to the latest version of a connector, including pre-releases and patches.
Where can I find more documentation about the INIT Connectors?
For an overview of the INIT connector portfolio, visit our Kafka Connectivity - INIT product page. It also contains links to more detailed documentation.Connector features
Can the connector be used with different converters (like Avro, JSON or Protobuf), SMTs, JMX based monitoring, Rest-API, and Rest-based UIs?
Yes. The connector is implemented against the Kafka Connect API and therefore fully integrated into Kafka Connect with all its functional possibilities.Do Kafka Connectors support PUSH?
By design, the Kafka Connect API does not provide PUSH for connectors. See KIP-26 - Adding the Kafka Connect framework for data import/export.Does Confluent support to run partner Connectors in the Confluent Managed Cloud?
Currently, Confluent does not support running partner connectors in the managed cloud. Customers must maintain a separate on-premises Kafka for their unmanaged connectors, making the infrastructure more complex, error-prone, and difficult to maintain.Using the sink connector, do the fields of kafka message have to match the field names of the OData service?
Yes, to ensure a successful data transfer, it is essential that the field names in both Kafka and OData services match. However, it is possible to use a Single Message Transform (SMT) available in the Kafka connector package to change the field names, i.e., ReplaceField SMT.How to configure the expand level and expand list parameters on the Confluent Control Center?
The expand level parameter proves beneficial when using the user interface on the Confluent Control Center, as it helps to generate a list of recommended values for the expand list parameter, taking into account the depth of data extraction. By providing a specific expand level value, the expand list parameter refines its recommendations for query options. However, it's important to note that for the connector to operate effectively based on the recommended values, the expand level is not a mandatory configuration; only the expand list parameter is necessary.Troubleshooting
How can I validate a connection for a connector?
- We recommend testing each connection to a new system using our included CLI tool, before creating a new connector instance.
- A helpful entry point into SAP is the transaction */n/iwfnd/error_log* to get the detail of an HTTP error response. This makes it possible to see whether the requests arrive in the SAP system.
- In case of connection issues for a connector, check the connect logs to find the corresponding HTTP response codes.
Additional resources
INIT
SAP
1.3.5