Help with Kafka stream connect

[ghzelmed]

**Subject: Stream Connect for Apache Kafka – Clarification on Hermes mode vs Direct Kafka mode**

Hi everyone,

I'm working on a Stream Connect for Apache Kafka design (Hermes mode vs Direct Kafka mode) and would like to confirm two points with the community/product team:

1. **In Hermes mode, is a message replicator always required?**

From the documentation, it seems that Hermes mode always relies on a replicator (Mirror Maker, custom replicator, or MID Server) to move messages between the customer's Kafka environment and Hermes. Can someone confirm there is no scenario in Hermes mode where messages reach Hermes without going through one of these replicators?

2. **Is a MID Server always mandatory in Hermes mode, or just one of several replicator options?**

I understand Direct Kafka mode never requires a MID Server. But in Hermes mode, is the MID Server one option among others (Mirror Maker, custom replicator), or is it always required regardless of the replicator type chosen?

Any clarification from someone who has implemented this in production (especially around licensing/infra implications) would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance!

[Adam Celli]

1. Replication is recommended since it allows you to own a copy of the messages in a Kafka cluster that your org manages, but it is not strictly required. If the other end of your integration has a native Kafka client and supports SSL using the truststore and keystore as required to connect to the Hermes cluster as a client, a replicator in the middle is not strictly required.
2. MID server is not mandatory. It's available as a ServiceNow provided replicator option, and does offer some benefits such as automating the certificate lifecycle between the MID server and the Hermes cluster as well as managing replications from directly in the ServiceNow instance. But other replicators are used by many of our Stream Connect customers, especially when the