# redpanda

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.redpanda.com/llms.txt). Component-specific: [connect-full.txt](https://docs.redpanda.com/connect-full.txt)

---
title: redpanda
latest-connect-version: 4.93.0
latest-operator-version: v26.1.4
latest-console-tag: v3.7.3
latest-redpanda-tag: v26.1.9
docname: tracers/redpanda
page-component-name: connect
page-version: master
page-component-version: master
page-component-title: Connect
page-relative-src-path: tracers/redpanda.adoc
page-edit-url: https://github.com/redpanda-data/rp-connect-docs/edit/main/modules/components/pages/tracers/redpanda.adoc
description: Send tracing events to a Redpanda topic.
page-git-created-date: "2025-12-02"
page-git-modified-date: "2026-05-26"
---

<!-- Source: https://docs.redpanda.com/connect/components/tracers/redpanda.md -->

**Type:** Tracer ▼

[Tracer](https://docs.redpanda.com/connect/components/tracers/redpanda/)[Cache](https://docs.redpanda.com/connect/components/caches/redpanda/)[Input](https://docs.redpanda.com/connect/components/inputs/redpanda/)[Output](https://docs.redpanda.com/connect/components/outputs/redpanda/)

**Available in:** [Cloud](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/develop/connect/components/tracers/redpanda/%20%22View%20the%20Cloud%20version%20of%20this%20component%22), Self-Managed

Export distributed tracing data to a Redpanda topic, enabling you to monitor and debug your Redpanda Connect pipelines. Traces are exported in OpenTelemetry format as JSON, allowing integration with observability platforms like Jaeger, Grafana Tempo, or custom trace consumers.

#### Common

```yml
tracers:
  redpanda:
    seed_brokers: [] # No default (required)
    topic: otel-traces
    format: json
    schema_registry:
      url: "" # No default (optional)
      tls:
        skip_cert_verify: false
        enable_renegotiation: false
        root_cas: ""
        root_cas_file: ""
        client_certs: []
      oauth2:
        enabled: false
        client_key: ""
        client_secret: ""
        token_url: ""
        scopes: []
        endpoint_params: {}
      oauth:
        enabled: false
        consumer_key: ""
        consumer_secret: ""
        access_token: ""
        access_token_secret: ""
      basic_auth:
        enabled: false
        username: ""
        password: ""
      jwt:
        enabled: false
        private_key_file: ""
        signing_method: ""
        claims: {}
        headers: {}
    service: redpanda-connect
    sampling:
      enabled: false
      ratio: "" # No default (optional)
```

#### Advanced

```yml
tracers:
  redpanda:
    seed_brokers: [] # No default (required)
    client_id: redpanda-connect
    tls:
      enabled: false
      skip_cert_verify: false
      enable_renegotiation: false
      root_cas: ""
      root_cas_file: ""
      client_certs: []
    sasl: [] # No default (optional)
    metadata_max_age: 1m
    request_timeout_overhead: 10s
    conn_idle_timeout: 20s
    tcp:
      connect_timeout: 0s
      keep_alive:
        idle: 15s
        interval: 15s
        count: 9
      tcp_user_timeout: 0s
    partitioner: "" # No default (optional)
    idempotent_write: true
    compression: "" # No default (optional)
    allow_auto_topic_creation: true
    timeout: 10s
    max_message_bytes: 1MiB
    broker_write_max_bytes: 100MiB
    topic: otel-traces
    format: json
    schema_registry:
      url: "" # No default (optional)
      tls:
        skip_cert_verify: false
        enable_renegotiation: false
        root_cas: ""
        root_cas_file: ""
        client_certs: []
      oauth2:
        enabled: false
        client_key: ""
        client_secret: ""
        token_url: ""
        scopes: []
        endpoint_params: {}
      oauth:
        enabled: false
        consumer_key: ""
        consumer_secret: ""
        access_token: ""
        access_token_secret: ""
      basic_auth:
        enabled: false
        username: ""
        password: ""
      jwt:
        enabled: false
        private_key_file: ""
        signing_method: ""
        claims: {}
        headers: {}
    service: redpanda-connect
    tags: {}
    sampling:
      enabled: false
      ratio: "" # No default (optional)
```

This tracer automatically captures trace spans as messages flow through your pipeline, recording timing information, component metadata, and error details. Use this to:

-   **Track message flow** through complex pipelines with multiple processors.

-   **Identify performance bottlenecks** by analyzing span durations.

-   **Debug failures** by examining trace context and error details.

-   **Monitor pipeline health** across distributed Redpanda Connect instances.

-   **Correlate activity** across multiple services using trace IDs.


The tracer writes to a dedicated Redpanda topic that can be consumed by trace analysis tools. Configure sampling to control trace volume in high-throughput environments.

## [](#fields)Fields

### [](#allow_auto_topic_creation)`allow_auto_topic_creation`

Whether to automatically create the trace topic if it doesn’t exist. If false, the topic must be created manually before starting the tracer.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `true`

### [](#broker_write_max_bytes)`broker_write_max_bytes`

The maximum number of bytes this output can write to a broker connection in a single write. This field corresponds to Kafka’s `socket.request.max.bytes`.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `100MiB`

```yaml
# Examples:
broker_write_max_bytes: 128MB

# ---

broker_write_max_bytes: 50mib
```

### [](#client_id)`client_id`

An identifier for the client connection. This appears in broker logs and metrics to help identify which Redpanda Connect instance is sending traces.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `redpanda-connect`

### [](#compression)`compression`

Compression codec to use for trace messages. Options include `gzip`, `snappy`, `lz4`, `zstd`, or none. Compression can reduce network bandwidth and storage costs.

**Type**: `string`

**Options**: `lz4`, `snappy`, `gzip`, `none`, `zstd`

### [](#conn_idle_timeout)`conn_idle_timeout`

The maximum duration that connections can remain idle before they are automatically closed. This field accepts Go duration format strings such as `100ms`, `1s`, or `5s`.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `20s`

### [](#format)`format`

The format for trace data. Currently only `json` is supported, which exports OpenTelemetry spans as JSON messages.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `json`

| Option | Summary |
| --- | --- |
| json | Emit in JSON Format |
| protobuf | Emit in Protobuf Format |
| schema-registry-json | Emit in JSON Format with Schema Registry encoding |
| schema-registry-protobuf | Emit in Protobuf Format with Schema Registry encoding |

### [](#idempotent_write)`idempotent_write`

Enable idempotent writes to prevent duplicate trace messages in case of retries. Recommended for production environments.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `true`

### [](#max_message_bytes)`max_message_bytes`

The maximum size of individual trace messages. Traces exceeding this size will be truncated or dropped.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `1MiB`

```yaml
# Examples:
max_message_bytes: 100MB

# ---

max_message_bytes: 50mib
```

### [](#metadata_max_age)`metadata_max_age`

The maximum age of cached cluster metadata before it is refreshed. Reducing this value can help detect cluster changes faster but increases metadata requests.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `1m`

### [](#partitioner)`partitioner`

Override the default partitioner for trace messages. By default, traces are distributed across partitions for load balancing.

**Type**: `string`

| Option | Summary |
| --- | --- |
| least_backup | Chooses the least backed up partition (the partition with the fewest amount of buffered records). Partitions are selected per batch. |
| manual | Manually select a partition for each message, requires the field partition to be specified. |
| murmur2_hash | Kafka’s default hash algorithm that uses a 32-bit murmur2 hash of the key to compute which partition the record will be on. |
| round_robin | Round-robin’s messages through all available partitions. This algorithm has lower throughput and causes higher CPU load on brokers, but can be useful if you want to ensure an even distribution of records to partitions. |

### [](#request_timeout_overhead)`request_timeout_overhead`

Additional time to apply as overhead when calculating request deadlines. This buffer helps prevent premature timeouts.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `10s`

### [](#sampling)`sampling`

Configure trace sampling to control the volume of trace data. Sampling is essential for high-throughput pipelines to prevent trace data from overwhelming your observability infrastructure.

**Type**: `object`

### [](#sampling-enabled)`sampling.enabled`

Whether to enable trace sampling. When disabled, all traces are exported. When enabled, traces are sampled according to the configured ratio.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `false`

### [](#sampling-ratio)`sampling.ratio`

The sampling ratio as a decimal between 0 and 1. For example, `0.1` samples 10% of traces, `0.01` samples 1%. Lower ratios reduce trace volume and overhead. For high-throughput production systems, start with 0.01-0.1 and adjust based on your needs.

**Type**: `float`

```yaml
# Examples:
ratio: 0.05

# ---

ratio: 0.85

# ---

ratio: 0.5
```

### [](#sasl)`sasl[]`

Specify one or more methods or mechanisms of SASL authentication, which are attempted in order. If the broker supports the first SASL mechanism, all connections use it. If the first mechanism fails, the client picks the first supported mechanism. If the broker does not support any client mechanisms, all connections fail.

**Type**: `object`

```yaml
# Examples:
sasl:
  - mechanism: SCRAM-SHA-512
    password: bar
    username: foo
```

### [](#sasl-aws)`sasl[].aws`

Contains AWS specific fields for when the `mechanism` is set to `AWS_MSK_IAM`.

**Type**: `object`

### [](#sasl-aws-credentials)`sasl[].aws.credentials`

Optional manual configuration of AWS credentials to use. More information can be found in [Amazon Web Services](https://docs.redpanda.com/connect/guides/cloud/aws/).

**Type**: `object`

### [](#sasl-aws-credentials-from_ec2_role)`sasl[].aws.credentials.from_ec2_role`

Use the credentials of a host EC2 machine configured to assume [an IAM role associated with the instance](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_roles_use_switch-role-ec2.html).

Requires version 4.2.0 or later.

**Type**: `bool`

### [](#sasl-aws-credentials-id)`sasl[].aws.credentials.id`

The ID of credentials to use.

**Type**: `string`

### [](#sasl-aws-credentials-profile)`sasl[].aws.credentials.profile`

A profile from `~/.aws/credentials` to use.

**Type**: `string`

### [](#sasl-aws-credentials-role)`sasl[].aws.credentials.role`

A role ARN to assume.

**Type**: `string`

### [](#sasl-aws-credentials-role_external_id)`sasl[].aws.credentials.role_external_id`

An external ID to provide when assuming a role.

**Type**: `string`

### [](#sasl-aws-credentials-secret)`sasl[].aws.credentials.secret`

The secret for the credentials being used.

> ⚠️ **CAUTION**
>
> This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see [Secrets](https://docs.redpanda.com/connect/configuration/secrets/).

**Type**: `string`

### [](#sasl-aws-credentials-token)`sasl[].aws.credentials.token`

The token for the credentials being used, required when using short term credentials.

**Type**: `string`

### [](#sasl-aws-endpoint)`sasl[].aws.endpoint`

Allows you to specify a custom endpoint for the AWS API.

**Type**: `string`

### [](#sasl-aws-region)`sasl[].aws.region`

The AWS region to target.

**Type**: `string`

### [](#sasl-aws-tcp)`sasl[].aws.tcp`

TCP socket configuration.

**Type**: `object`

### [](#sasl-aws-tcp-connect_timeout)`sasl[].aws.tcp.connect_timeout`

Maximum amount of time a dial will wait for a connect to complete. Zero disables.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `0s`

### [](#sasl-aws-tcp-keep_alive)`sasl[].aws.tcp.keep_alive`

TCP keep-alive probe configuration.

**Type**: `object`

### [](#sasl-aws-tcp-keep_alive-count)`sasl[].aws.tcp.keep_alive.count`

Maximum unanswered keep-alive probes before dropping the connection. Zero defaults to 9.

**Type**: `int`

**Default**: `9`

### [](#sasl-aws-tcp-keep_alive-idle)`sasl[].aws.tcp.keep_alive.idle`

Duration the connection must be idle before sending the first keep-alive probe. Zero defaults to 15s. Negative values disable keep-alive probes.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `15s`

### [](#sasl-aws-tcp-keep_alive-interval)`sasl[].aws.tcp.keep_alive.interval`

Duration between keep-alive probes. Zero defaults to 15s.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `15s`

### [](#sasl-aws-tcp-tcp_user_timeout)`sasl[].aws.tcp.tcp_user_timeout`

Maximum time to wait for acknowledgment of transmitted data before killing the connection. Linux-only (kernel 2.6.37+), ignored on other platforms. When enabled, keep\_alive.idle must be greater than this value per RFC 5482. Zero disables.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `0s`

### [](#sasl-extensions)`sasl[].extensions`

Key/value pairs to add to OAUTHBEARER authentication requests.

**Type**: `string`

### [](#sasl-mechanism)`sasl[].mechanism`

The SASL mechanism to use.

**Type**: `string`

| Option | Summary |
| --- | --- |
| AWS_MSK_IAM | AWS IAM based authentication as specified by the 'aws-msk-iam-auth' java library. |
| OAUTHBEARER | OAuth Bearer based authentication. |
| PLAIN | Plain text authentication. |
| REDPANDA_CLOUD_SERVICE_ACCOUNT | Redpanda Cloud Service Account authentication when running in Redpanda Cloud. |
| SCRAM-SHA-256 | SCRAM based authentication as specified in RFC5802. |
| SCRAM-SHA-512 | SCRAM based authentication as specified in RFC5802. |
| none | Disable sasl authentication |

### [](#sasl-password)`sasl[].password`

A password to provide for PLAIN or SCRAM-\* authentication.

> ⚠️ **CAUTION**
>
> This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see [Secrets](https://docs.redpanda.com/connect/configuration/secrets/).

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#sasl-token)`sasl[].token`

The token to use for a single session’s OAUTHBEARER authentication.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#sasl-username)`sasl[].username`

A username to provide for PLAIN or SCRAM-\* authentication.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#schema_registry)`schema_registry`

Schema registry information to publish schemas for tracing data along with the data.

**Type**: `object`

### [](#schema_registry-basic_auth)`schema_registry.basic_auth`

Allows you to specify basic authentication.

**Type**: `object`

### [](#schema_registry-basic_auth-enabled)`schema_registry.basic_auth.enabled`

Whether to use basic authentication in requests.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `false`

### [](#schema_registry-basic_auth-password)`schema_registry.basic_auth.password`

A password to authenticate with.

> ⚠️ **CAUTION**
>
> This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see [Secrets](https://docs.redpanda.com/connect/configuration/secrets/).

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#schema_registry-basic_auth-username)`schema_registry.basic_auth.username`

A username to authenticate as.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#schema_registry-jwt)`schema_registry.jwt`

Beta

Allows you to specify JWT authentication.

**Type**: `object`

### [](#schema_registry-jwt-claims)`schema_registry.jwt.claims`

A value used to identify the claims that issued the JWT.

**Type**: `object`

**Default**: `{}`

### [](#schema_registry-jwt-enabled)`schema_registry.jwt.enabled`

Whether to use JWT authentication in requests.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `false`

### [](#schema_registry-jwt-headers)`schema_registry.jwt.headers`

Add optional key/value headers to the JWT.

**Type**: `object`

**Default**: `{}`

### [](#schema_registry-jwt-private_key_file)`schema_registry.jwt.private_key_file`

A file with the PEM encoded via PKCS1 or PKCS8 as private key.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#schema_registry-jwt-signing_method)`schema_registry.jwt.signing_method`

A method used to sign the token such as RS256, RS384, RS512 or EdDSA.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#schema_registry-oauth)`schema_registry.oauth`

Allows you to specify open authentication via OAuth version 1.

**Type**: `object`

### [](#schema_registry-oauth-access_token)`schema_registry.oauth.access_token`

A value used to gain access to the protected resources on behalf of the user.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#schema_registry-oauth-access_token_secret)`schema_registry.oauth.access_token_secret`

A secret provided in order to establish ownership of a given access token.

> ⚠️ **CAUTION**
>
> This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see [Secrets](https://docs.redpanda.com/connect/configuration/secrets/).

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#schema_registry-oauth-consumer_key)`schema_registry.oauth.consumer_key`

A value used to identify the client to the service provider.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#schema_registry-oauth-consumer_secret)`schema_registry.oauth.consumer_secret`

A secret used to establish ownership of the consumer key.

> ⚠️ **CAUTION**
>
> This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see [Secrets](https://docs.redpanda.com/connect/configuration/secrets/).

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#schema_registry-oauth-enabled)`schema_registry.oauth.enabled`

Whether to use OAuth version 1 in requests.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `false`

### [](#schema_registry-oauth2)`schema_registry.oauth2`

Allows you to specify open authentication via OAuth version 2 using the client credentials token flow.

**Type**: `object`

### [](#schema_registry-oauth2-client_key)`schema_registry.oauth2.client_key`

A value used to identify the client to the token provider.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#schema_registry-oauth2-client_secret)`schema_registry.oauth2.client_secret`

A secret used to establish ownership of the client key.

> ⚠️ **CAUTION**
>
> This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see [Secrets](https://docs.redpanda.com/connect/configuration/secrets/).

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#schema_registry-oauth2-enabled)`schema_registry.oauth2.enabled`

Whether to use OAuth version 2 in requests.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `false`

### [](#schema_registry-oauth2-endpoint_params)`schema_registry.oauth2.endpoint_params`

A list of optional endpoint parameters, values should be arrays of strings.

**Type**: `object`

**Default**: `{}`

```yaml
# Examples:
endpoint_params:
  audience:
    - https://example.com
  resource:
    - https://api.example.com
```

### [](#schema_registry-oauth2-scopes)`schema_registry.oauth2.scopes[]`

A list of optional requested permissions.

**Type**: `array`

**Default**: `[]`

### [](#schema_registry-oauth2-token_url)`schema_registry.oauth2.token_url`

The URL of the token provider.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#schema_registry-tls)`schema_registry.tls`

Custom TLS settings can be used to override system defaults.

**Type**: `object`

### [](#schema_registry-tls-client_certs)`schema_registry.tls.client_certs[]`

A list of client certificates to use. For each certificate either the fields `cert` and `key`, or `cert_file` and `key_file` should be specified, but not both.

**Type**: `object`

**Default**: `[]`

```yaml
# Examples:
client_certs:
  - cert: foo
    key: bar

# ---

client_certs:
  - cert_file: ./example.pem
    key_file: ./example.key
```

### [](#schema_registry-tls-client_certs-cert)`schema_registry.tls.client_certs[].cert`

A plain text certificate to use.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#schema_registry-tls-client_certs-cert_file)`schema_registry.tls.client_certs[].cert_file`

The path of a certificate to use.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#schema_registry-tls-client_certs-key)`schema_registry.tls.client_certs[].key`

A plain text certificate key to use.

> ⚠️ **CAUTION**
>
> This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see [Secrets](https://docs.redpanda.com/connect/configuration/secrets/).

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#schema_registry-tls-client_certs-key_file)`schema_registry.tls.client_certs[].key_file`

The path of a certificate key to use.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#schema_registry-tls-client_certs-password)`schema_registry.tls.client_certs[].password`

A plain text password for when the private key is password encrypted in PKCS#1 or PKCS#8 format. The obsolete `pbeWithMD5AndDES-CBC` algorithm is not supported for the PKCS#8 format.

Because the obsolete pbeWithMD5AndDES-CBC algorithm does not authenticate the ciphertext, it is vulnerable to padding oracle attacks that can let an attacker recover the plaintext.

> ⚠️ **CAUTION**
>
> This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see [Secrets](https://docs.redpanda.com/connect/configuration/secrets/).

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

```yaml
# Examples:
password: foo

# ---

password: ${KEY_PASSWORD}
```

### [](#schema_registry-tls-enable_renegotiation)`schema_registry.tls.enable_renegotiation`

Whether to allow the remote server to repeatedly request renegotiation. Enable this option if you’re seeing the error message `local error: tls: no renegotiation`.

Requires version 3.45.0 or later.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `false`

### [](#schema_registry-tls-root_cas)`schema_registry.tls.root_cas`

An optional root certificate authority to use. This is a string, representing a certificate chain from the parent trusted root certificate, to possible intermediate signing certificates, to the host certificate.

> ⚠️ **CAUTION**
>
> This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see [Secrets](https://docs.redpanda.com/connect/configuration/secrets/).

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

```yaml
# Examples:
root_cas: |-
  -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
  ...
  -----END CERTIFICATE-----
```

### [](#schema_registry-tls-root_cas_file)`schema_registry.tls.root_cas_file`

An optional path of a root certificate authority file to use. This is a file, often with a .pem extension, containing a certificate chain from the parent trusted root certificate, to possible intermediate signing certificates, to the host certificate.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

```yaml
# Examples:
root_cas_file: ./root_cas.pem
```

### [](#schema_registry-tls-skip_cert_verify)`schema_registry.tls.skip_cert_verify`

Whether to skip server side certificate verification.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `false`

### [](#schema_registry-url)`schema_registry.url`

The base URL of the schema registry service.

**Type**: `string`

### [](#seed_brokers)`seed_brokers[]`

A list of broker addresses to connect to in order. Use commas to separate multiple addresses in a single list item.

**Type**: `array`

```yaml
# Examples:
seed_brokers:
  - "localhost:9092"

# ---

seed_brokers:
  - "foo:9092"
  - "bar:9092"

# ---

seed_brokers:
  - "foo:9092,bar:9092"
```

### [](#service)`service`

The service name to identify this Redpanda Connect instance in traces. This appears in trace visualizations and helps correlate traces across distributed systems. Use descriptive names like `order-processor` or `analytics-pipeline`.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `redpanda-connect`

### [](#tags)`tags`

Custom key-value tags to attach to all traces from this instance. Use tags to add metadata like environment (`production`, `staging`), region, version, or instance identifiers. Tags appear as resource attributes in OpenTelemetry traces.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `{}`

### [](#tcp)`tcp`

Configure TCP socket-level settings to optimize network performance and reliability. These low-level controls are useful for:

-   **High-latency networks**: Increase `connect_timeout` to allow more time for connection establishment

-   **Long-lived connections**: Configure `keep_alive` settings to detect and recover from stale connections

-   **Unstable networks**: Tune keep-alive probes to balance between quick failure detection and avoiding false positives

-   **Linux systems with specific requirements**: Use `tcp_user_timeout` (Linux 2.6.37+) to control data acknowledgment timeouts


Most users should keep the default values. Only modify these settings if you’re experiencing connection stability issues or have specific network requirements.

**Type**: `object`

### [](#tcp-connect_timeout)`tcp.connect_timeout`

Maximum amount of time a dial will wait for a connect to complete. Zero disables.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `0s`

### [](#tcp-keep_alive)`tcp.keep_alive`

TCP keep-alive probe configuration.

**Type**: `object`

### [](#tcp-keep_alive-count)`tcp.keep_alive.count`

Maximum unanswered keep-alive probes before dropping the connection. Zero defaults to 9.

**Type**: `int`

**Default**: `9`

### [](#tcp-keep_alive-idle)`tcp.keep_alive.idle`

Duration the connection must be idle before sending the first keep-alive probe. Zero defaults to 15s. Negative values disable keep-alive probes.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `15s`

### [](#tcp-keep_alive-interval)`tcp.keep_alive.interval`

Duration between keep-alive probes. Zero defaults to 15s.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `15s`

### [](#tcp-tcp_user_timeout)`tcp.tcp_user_timeout`

Maximum time to wait for acknowledgment of transmitted data before killing the connection. Linux-only (kernel 2.6.37+), ignored on other platforms. When enabled, keep\_alive.idle must be greater than this value per RFC 5482. Zero disables.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `0s`

### [](#timeout)`timeout`

The maximum time to wait for trace messages to be acknowledged by the broker before considering the write failed.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `10s`

### [](#tls)`tls`

Configure Transport Layer Security (TLS) settings to secure network connections. This includes options for standard TLS as well as mutual TLS (mTLS) authentication where both client and server authenticate each other using certificates. Key configuration options include `enabled` to enable TLS, `client_certs` for mTLS authentication, `root_cas`/`root_cas_file` for custom certificate authorities, and `skip_cert_verify` for development environments.

**Type**: `object`

### [](#tls-client_certs)`tls.client_certs[]`

A list of client certificates for mutual TLS (mTLS) authentication. Configure this field to enable mTLS, authenticating the client to the server with these certificates.

You must set `tls.enabled: true` for the client certificates to take effect.

**Certificate pairing rules**: For each certificate item, provide either:

-   Inline PEM data using both `cert` **and** `key` or

-   File paths using both `cert_file` **and** `key_file`.


Mixing inline and file-based values within the same item is not supported.

**Type**: `object`

**Default**: `[]`

```yaml
# Examples:
client_certs:
  - cert: foo
    key: bar

# ---

client_certs:
  - cert_file: ./example.pem
    key_file: ./example.key
```

### [](#tls-client_certs-cert)`tls.client_certs[].cert`

A plain text certificate to use.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#tls-client_certs-cert_file)`tls.client_certs[].cert_file`

The path of a certificate to use.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#tls-client_certs-key)`tls.client_certs[].key`

A plain text certificate key to use.

> ⚠️ **CAUTION**
>
> This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see [Secrets](https://docs.redpanda.com/connect/configuration/secrets/).

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#tls-client_certs-key_file)`tls.client_certs[].key_file`

The path of a certificate key to use.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

### [](#tls-client_certs-password)`tls.client_certs[].password`

A plain text password for when the private key is password encrypted in PKCS#1 or PKCS#8 format. The obsolete `pbeWithMD5AndDES-CBC` algorithm is not supported for the PKCS#8 format.

Because the obsolete pbeWithMD5AndDES-CBC algorithm does not authenticate the ciphertext, it is vulnerable to padding oracle attacks that can let an attacker recover the plaintext.

> ⚠️ **CAUTION**
>
> This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see [Secrets](https://docs.redpanda.com/connect/configuration/secrets/).

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

```yaml
# Examples:
password: foo

# ---

password: ${KEY_PASSWORD}
```

### [](#tls-enable_renegotiation)`tls.enable_renegotiation`

Whether to allow the remote server to request renegotiation. Enable this option if you’re seeing the error message `local error: tls: no renegotiation`.

Requires version 3.45.0 or later.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `false`

### [](#tls-enabled)`tls.enabled`

Whether to use TLS for the connection to the Redpanda cluster.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `false`

### [](#tls-root_cas)`tls.root_cas`

Specify a root certificate authority to use (optional). This is a string that represents a certificate chain from the parent-trusted root certificate, through possible intermediate signing certificates, to the host certificate. Use either this field for inline certificate data or `root_cas_file` for file-based certificate loading.

> ⚠️ **CAUTION**
>
> This field contains sensitive information that usually shouldn’t be added to a configuration directly. For more information, see [Secrets](https://docs.redpanda.com/connect/configuration/secrets/).

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

```yaml
# Examples:
root_cas: |-
  -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
  ...
  -----END CERTIFICATE-----
```

### [](#tls-root_cas_file)`tls.root_cas_file`

Specify the path to a root certificate authority file (optional). This is a file, often with a `.pem` extension, which contains a certificate chain from the parent-trusted root certificate, through possible intermediate signing certificates, to the host certificate. Use either this field for file-based certificate loading or `root_cas` for inline certificate data.

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `""`

```yaml
# Examples:
root_cas_file: ./root_cas.pem
```

### [](#tls-skip_cert_verify)`tls.skip_cert_verify`

Whether to skip server-side certificate verification. Set to `true` only for testing environments as this reduces security by disabling certificate validation. When using self-signed certificates or in development, this may be necessary, but should never be used in production. Consider using `root_cas` or `root_cas_file` to specify trusted certificates instead of disabling verification entirely.

**Type**: `bool`

**Default**: `false`

### [](#topic)`topic`

The Redpanda topic where trace data is written. This topic should be dedicated to traces and configured with appropriate retention policies. Default: `otel-traces`

**Type**: `string`

**Default**: `otel-traces`