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Add minimum Kafka ACL permissions for Kafka Monitoring and Messages #35817

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Add minimum Kafka ACL permissions for Kafka Monitoring and Messages #35817

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bc2c990
Add minimum Kafka ACL permissions for Kafka Monitoring and Messages
piochelepiotr Apr 7, 2026
91b837c
Address PR review comments
piochelepiotr Apr 8, 2026
57b559d
Move message reading permissions to _index.md, revert messages.md
piochelepiotr Apr 8, 2026
bb7c6af
Remove messages.md, consolidate into Kafka Monitoring page
piochelepiotr Apr 8, 2026
18d6384
Revert messages.md deletion, keep ACL permissions in _index.md only
piochelepiotr Apr 8, 2026
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12 changes: 12 additions & 0 deletions content/en/data_streams/kafka/_index.md
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Expand Up @@ -14,6 +14,18 @@ With Data Streams Monitoring's Kafka Monitoring, a Datadog Agent check connects

Go to the [Kafka Monitoring setup page][1] and click {{< ui >}}Get Started{{< / ui >}}. Then choose your environment and follow the instructions. To request assistance, choose {{< ui >}}Request a pairing session{{< /ui >}}.

### Kafka ACL permissions
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@domalessi domalessi Apr 7, 2026

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The ACL section is inserted between the setup paragraph and the kafka_setup-2.png image, which breaks the flow — that image illustrates the setup dialog described in the paragraph above it. I think the move would be to shift the ### Kafka ACL permissions to after the image and its following paragraph

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@piochelepiotr piochelepiotr Apr 8, 2026

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Makes sense, moved it


If your Kafka cluster uses ACLs, the Datadog Agent user requires the following minimum permissions:

| Resource Name | Resource Type | Operation |
|---------------|---------------|------------------|
| `kafka-cluster` | `CLUSTER` | `Describe` |
| `kafka-cluster` | `CLUSTER` | `DescribeConfigs` |
| `*` | `TOPIC` | `Describe` |
| `*` | `TOPIC` | `DescribeConfigs` |
| `*` | `GROUP` | `Describe` |

{{< img src="data_streams/kafka_setup-2.png" alt="The Kafka Monitoring setup dialog showing environment selection, security protocol, schema registry options, and Kubernetes configuration instructions" >}}

The setup page provides environment-specific configuration instructions. You can copy the instructions directly to an AI agent with **Copy for AI**.
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11 changes: 11 additions & 0 deletions content/en/data_streams/kafka/messages.md
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Expand Up @@ -45,6 +45,16 @@ Ensure [remote configuration][3] is set up for the agent running the Kafka Consu
1. In Datadog, under [Remote Configuration][13], check that remote configuration is enabled at the organization level.
2. In Datadog, under [Remote Configuration][13], check that the agent running the Kafka Consumer integration has remote configuration enabled, and is using an API key with remote configuration enabled.

## Kafka ACL permissions
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@domalessi domalessi Apr 7, 2026

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Having ## Kafka ACL permissions immediately followed by ## Required permissions is confusing — both are about permissions but they cover different things (Kafka cluster access for the Agent vs. Datadog RBAC for the user), and there's nothing to explain the distinction.

I'd suggest one of:

  1. Group under a single section: Wrap both under ## Permissions with H3 subsections, and rename ## Required permissions to ### Datadog user permissions.
  2. Move into Prerequisites: Since Kafka ACL permissions are a prerequisite for the feature to work, nest ### Kafka ACL permissions under ## Prerequisites alongside the existing Agent version and remote configuration prerequisites. Then ## Required permissions stands alone covering only Datadog RBAC.
  3. Keep the structure but add a framing sentence to ## Required permissions: "In addition to Kafka ACL permissions, you must have the following Datadog account permissions:" — this at least signals the distinction without reorganizing.

I think option 2 perhaps is the best move.

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@piochelepiotr piochelepiotr Apr 8, 2026

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Actually, I'm planning to delete that page. Today, this page refers to a version of the feature we want to deprecate. So I've made updates only to the main 'Kafka' page, and will delete the messages page once agent 7.78 is released.


If your Kafka cluster uses ACLs, the Datadog Agent user requires the following minimum permissions to read messages:

| Resource Name | Resource Type | Operation |
|---------------|---------------|-----------|
| `*` | `TOPIC` | `Read` |

These permissions are in addition to the [Kafka Monitoring permissions][14].

## Required permissions

You must have the `Data Streams Monitoring Capture Messages` permission, and these logs permissions that are part of the Datadog Standard role:
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -94,3 +104,4 @@ To enable permissions, edit an existing role or create a new one on the [Roles p
[11]: /integrations/kafka-consumer/?tab=host#validation
[12]: https://app.datadoghq.com/fleet
[13]: https://app.datadoghq.com/organization-settings/remote-config
[14]: /data_streams/kafka/#kafka-acl-permissions
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