Pulsar command-line tools

Pulsar offers several command-line tools that you can use for managing Pulsar installations, performance testing, using command-line producers and consumers, and more.

All Pulsar command-line tools can be run from the bin directory of your installed Pulsar package. The following tools are currently documented:

• pulsar
• pulsar-client
• pulsar-daemon
• pulsar-perf
• bookkeeper
• broker-tool

You can get help for any CLI tool, command, or subcommand using the --help flag, or -h for short. Here's an example:

$ bin/pulsar broker --help

pulsar

The pulsar tool is used to start Pulsar components, such as bookies and ZooKeeper, in the foreground.

These processes can also be started in the background, using nohup, using the pulsar-daemon tool, which has the same command interface as pulsar.

Usage:

$ pulsar command

Commands:

• bookie
• broker
• compact-topic
• configuration-store
• initialize-cluster-metadata
• proxy
• standalone
• websocket
• zookeeper
• zookeeper-shell
• autorecovery

Example:

$ PULSAR_BROKER_CONF=/path/to/broker.conf pulsar broker

The table below lists the environment variables that you can use to configure the pulsar tool.

Variable	Description	Default
PULSAR_LOG_CONF	Log4j configuration file	conf/log4j2.yaml
PULSAR_BROKER_CONF	Configuration file for broker	conf/broker.conf
PULSAR_BOOKKEEPER_CONF	description: Configuration file for bookie	conf/bookkeeper.conf
PULSAR_ZK_CONF	Configuration file for zookeeper	conf/zookeeper.conf
PULSAR_CONFIGURATION_STORE_CONF	Configuration file for the configuration store	conf/global_zookeeper.conf
PULSAR_WEBSOCKET_CONF	Configuration file for websocket proxy	conf/websocket.conf
PULSAR_STANDALONE_CONF	Configuration file for standalone	conf/standalone.conf
PULSAR_EXTRA_OPTS	Extra options to be passed to the jvm
PULSAR_EXTRA_CLASSPATH	Extra paths for Pulsar's classpath
PULSAR_PID_DIR	Folder where the pulsar server PID file should be stored
PULSAR_STOP_TIMEOUT	Wait time before forcefully killing the Bookie server instance if attempts to stop it are not successful
PULSAR_GC_LOG	Gc options to be passed to the jvm

bookie

Starts up a bookie server

Usage:

$ pulsar bookie options

Options

Option	Description	Default
-readOnly	Force start a read-only bookie server	false
-withAutoRecovery	Start auto-recover service bookie server	false

Example

$ PULSAR_BOOKKEEPER_CONF=/path/to/bookkeeper.conf pulsar bookie \
  -readOnly \
  -withAutoRecovery

broker

Starts up a Pulsar broker

Usage

$ pulsar broker options

Options

Option	Description	Default
-bc , --bookie-conf	Configuration file for BookKeeper
-rb , --run-bookie	Run a BookKeeper bookie on the same host as the Pulsar broker	false
-ra , --run-bookie-autorecovery	Run a BookKeeper autorecovery daemon on the same host as the Pulsar broker	false

Example

$ PULSAR_BROKER_CONF=/path/to/broker.conf pulsar broker

compact-topic

Run compaction against a Pulsar topic (in a new process)

Usage

$ pulsar compact-topic options

Options

Flag	Description	Default
-t , --topic	The Pulsar topic that you would like to compact

Example

$ pulsar compact-topic --topic topic-to-compact

configuration-store

Starts up the Pulsar configuration store

Usage

$ pulsar configuration-store

Example

$ PULSAR_CONFIGURATION_STORE_CONF=/path/to/configuration_store.conf pulsar configuration-store

initialize-cluster-metadata

One-time cluster metadata initialization

Usage

$ pulsar initialize-cluster-metadata options

Options

Flag	Description	Default
-ub , --broker-service-url	The broker service URL for the new cluster
-tb , --broker-service-url-tls	The broker service URL for the new cluster with TLS encryption
-c , --cluster	Cluster name
-cms , --configuration-metadata-store	The configuration metadata store quorum connection string
--existing-bk-metadata-service-uri	The metadata service URI of the existing BookKeeper cluster that you want to use
-h , --help	Help message	false
--initial-num-stream-storage-containers	The number of storage containers of BookKeeper stream storage	16
--initial-num-transaction-coordinators	The number of transaction coordinators assigned in a cluster	16
-uw , --web-service-url	The web service URL for the new cluster
-tw , --web-service-url-tls	The web service URL for the new cluster with TLS encryption
-md , --metadata-store	The metadata store service url
--zookeeper-session-timeout-ms	The local ZooKeeper session timeout. The time unit is in millisecond(ms)	30000

proxy

Manages the Pulsar proxy

Usage

$ pulsar proxy options

Options

Flag	Description	Default
-cms, --configuration-metadata-store	Configuration metadata store connection string
-md , --metadata-store	Metadata Store service url

Example

$ PULSAR_PROXY_CONF=/path/to/proxy.conf pulsar proxy \
  --metadata-store zk:my-zk-1:2181,my-zk-2:2181,my-zk-3:2181 \
  --configuration-metadata-store zk:my-zk-1:2181,my-zk-2:2181,my-zk-3:2181

standalone

Run a broker service with local bookies and local ZooKeeper

Usage

$ pulsar standalone options

Options

Flag	Description	Default
-a , --advertised-address	The standalone broker advertised address
--bookkeeper-dir	Local bookies’ base data directory	data/standalone/bookkeeper
--bookkeeper-port	Local bookies’ base port	3181
--no-broker	Only start ZooKeeper and BookKeeper services, not the broker	false
--num-bookies	The number of local bookies	1
--only-broker	Only start the Pulsar broker service (not ZooKeeper or BookKeeper)
--wipe-data	Clean up previous ZooKeeper/BookKeeper data
--zookeeper-dir	Local ZooKeeper’s data directory	data/standalone/zookeeper
--zookeeper-port	Local ZooKeeper’s port	2181

Example

$ PULSAR_STANDALONE_CONF=/path/to/standalone.conf pulsar standalone

websocket

Usage

$ pulsar websocket

Example

$ PULSAR_WEBSOCKET_CONF=/path/to/websocket.conf pulsar websocket

zookeeper

Starts up a ZooKeeper cluster

Usage

$ pulsar zookeeper

Example

$ PULSAR_ZK_CONF=/path/to/zookeeper.conf pulsar zookeeper

zookeeper-shell

Connects to a running ZooKeeper cluster using the ZooKeeper shell

Usage

$ pulsar zookeeper-shell options

Options

Flag	Description	Default
-c, --conf	Configuration file for ZooKeeper
-server	Configuration zk address, eg: 127.0.0.1:2181

autorecovery

Runs an auto-recovery service.

Usage

$ pulsar autorecovery options

Options

Flag	Description	Default
-c, --conf	Configuration for the autorecovery	N/A

pulsar-client

The pulsar-client tool

Usage

$ pulsar-client command

Commands

• produce
• consume

Options

Flag	Description	Default
--auth-params	Authentication parameters, whose format is determined by the implementation of method configure in authentication plugin class, for example "key1:val1,key2:val2" or "{"key1":"val1","key2":"val2"}"	{"saslJaasClientSectionName":"PulsarClient", "serverType":"broker"}
--auth-plugin	Authentication plugin class name	org.apache.pulsar.client.impl.auth.AuthenticationSasl
--listener-name	Listener name for the broker
--proxy-protocol	Proxy protocol to select type of routing at proxy
--proxy-url	Proxy-server URL to which to connect
--url	Broker URL to which to connect	pulsar://localhost:6650/ ws://localhost:8080
-v, --version	Get the version of the Pulsar client
-h, --help	Show this help

produce

Send a message or messages to a specific broker and topic

Usage

$ pulsar-client produce topic options

Options

Flag	Description	Default
-f, --files	Comma-separated file paths to send; either -m or -f must be specified	[]
-m, --messages	Comma-separated string of messages to send; either -m or -f must be specified	[]
-n, --num-produce	The number of times to send the message(s); the count of messages/files * num-produce should be below 1000	1
-r, --rate	Rate (in messages per second) at which to produce; a value 0 means to produce messages as fast as possible	0.0
-db, --disable-batching	Disable batch sending of messages	false
-c, --chunking	Split the message and publish in chunks if the message size is larger than the allowed max size	false
-s, --separator	Character to split messages string with.	","
-k, --key	Message key to add	key=value string, like k1=v1,k2=v2.
-p, --properties	Properties to add. If you want to add multiple properties, use the comma as the separator, e.g. k1=v1,k2=v2.
-ekn, --encryption-key-name	The public key name to encrypt payload.
-ekv, --encryption-key-value	The URI of public key to encrypt payload. For example, file:///path/to/public.key or data:application/x-pem-file;base64,*****.

consume

Consume messages from a specific broker and topic

Usage

$ pulsar-client consume topic options

Options

Flag	Description	Default
--hex	Display binary messages in hexadecimal format.	false
-n, --num-messages	Number of messages to consume, 0 means to consume forever.	1
-r, --rate	Rate (in messages per second) at which to consume; a value 0 means to consume messages as fast as possible	0.0
--regex	Indicate the topic name is a regex pattern	false
-s, --subscription-name	Subscription name
-t, --subscription-type	The type of the subscription. Possible values: Exclusive, Shared, Failover, Key_Shared.	Exclusive
-p, --subscription-position	The position of the subscription. Possible values: Latest, Earliest.	Latest
-m, --subscription-mode	Subscription mode. Possible values: Durable, NonDurable.	Durable
-q, --queue-size	The size of consumer's receiver queue.	0
-mc, --max_chunked_msg	Max pending chunk messages.	0
-ac, --auto_ack_chunk_q_full	Auto ack for the oldest message in consumer's receiver queue if the queue full.	false
--hide-content	Do not print the message to the console.	false
-st, --schema-type	Set the schema type. Use auto_consume to dump AVRO and other structured data types. Possible values: bytes, auto_consume.	bytes
-ekv, --encryption-key-value	The URI of public key to encrypt payload. For example, file:///path/to/public.key or data:application/x-pem-file;base64,*****.
-pm, --pool-messages	Use the pooled message.	true

pulsar-daemon

A wrapper around the pulsar tool that’s used to start and stop processes, such as ZooKeeper, bookies, and Pulsar brokers, in the background using nohup.

pulsar-daemon has a similar interface to the pulsar command but adds start and stop commands for various services. For a listing of those services, run pulsar-daemon to see the help output or see the documentation for the pulsar command.

Usage

$ pulsar-daemon command

Commands

• start
• stop
• restart

start

Start a service in the background using nohup.

Usage

$ pulsar-daemon start service

stop

Stop a service that’s already been started using start.

Usage

$ pulsar-daemon stop service options

Options

Flag	Description	Default
-force	Stop the service forcefully if not stopped by normal shutdown.	false

restart

Restart a service that has already been started.

$ pulsar-daemon restart service

pulsar-perf

A tool for performance testing a Pulsar broker.

Usage

$ pulsar-perf command

Commands

• consume
• produce
• read
• websocket-producer
• managed-ledger
• monitor-brokers
• simulation-client
• simulation-controller
• transaction
• help

Environment variables

The table below lists the environment variables that you can use to configure the pulsar-perf tool.

Variable	Description	Default
PULSAR_LOG_CONF	Log4j configuration file	conf/log4j2.yaml
PULSAR_CLIENT_CONF	Configuration file for the client	conf/client.conf
PULSAR_EXTRA_OPTS	Extra options to be passed to the JVM
PULSAR_EXTRA_CLASSPATH	Extra paths for Pulsar's classpath
PULSAR_GC_LOG	Gc options to be passed to the jvm

consume

Run a consumer

Usage

$ pulsar-perf consume options

Options

Flag	Description	Default
--auth-params	Authentication parameters, whose format is determined by the implementation of method configure in authentication plugin class. For example, key1:val1,key2:val2 or {"key1":"val1","key2":"val2"}.
--auth-plugin	Authentication plugin class name
-ac, --auto_ack_chunk_q_full	Auto ack for the oldest message in consumer's receiver queue if the queue full	false
--listener-name	Listener name for the broker
--acks-delay-millis	Acknowledgements grouping delay in millis	100
--batch-index-ack	Enable or disable the batch index acknowledgment	false
-bw, --busy-wait	Enable or disable Busy-Wait on the Pulsar client	false
-v, --encryption-key-value-file	The file which contains the private key to decrypt payload
-h, --help	Help message	false
-cf, --conf-file	Configuration file
-m, --num-messages	Number of messages to consume in total. If the value is equal to or smaller than 0, it keeps consuming messages.	0
-e, --expire_time_incomplete_chunked_messages	The expiration time for incomplete chunk messages (in milliseconds)	0
-c, --max-connections	Max number of TCP connections to a single broker	100
-mc, --max_chunked_msg	Max pending chunk messages	0
-n, --num-consumers	Number of consumers (per topic)	1
-ioThreads, --num-io-threads	Set the number of threads to be used for handling connections to brokers	1
-lt, --num-listener-threads	Set the number of threads to be used for message listeners	1
-ns, --num-subscriptions	Number of subscriptions (per topic)	1
-t, --num-topics	The number of topics	1
-pm, --pool-messages	Use the pooled message	true
-r, --rate	Simulate a slow message consumer (rate in msg/s)	0
-q, --receiver-queue-size	Size of the receiver queue	1000
-p, --receiver-queue-size-across-partitions	Max total size of the receiver queue across partitions	50000
--replicated	Whether the subscription status should be replicated	false
-u, --service-url	Pulsar service URL
-i, --stats-interval-seconds	Statistics interval seconds. If 0, statistics will be disabled	0
-s, --subscriber-name	Subscriber name prefix
-ss, --subscriptions	A list of subscriptions to consume on (e.g. sub1,sub2)	sub
-st, --subscription-type	Subscriber type. Possible values are Exclusive, Shared, Failover, Key_Shared.	Exclusive
-sp, --subscription-position	Subscriber position. Possible values are Latest, Earliest.	Latest
-time, --test-duration	Test duration (in seconds). If this value is less than or equal to 0, it keeps consuming messages.	0
--trust-cert-file	Path for the trusted TLS certificate file
--tls-allow-insecure	Allow insecure TLS connection

produce

Run a producer

Usage

$ pulsar-perf produce options

Options

Flag	Description	Default
-am, --access-mode	Producer access mode. Valid values are Shared, Exclusive and WaitForExclusive	Shared
-au, --admin-url	Pulsar admin URL
--auth-params	Authentication parameters, whose format is determined by the implementation of method configure in authentication plugin class. For example, key1:val1,key2:val2 or {"key1":"val1","key2":"val2"}.
--auth-plugin	Authentication plugin class name
--listener-name	Listener name for the broker
-b, --batch-time-window	Batch messages in a window of the specified number of milliseconds	1
-bb, --batch-max-bytes	Maximum number of bytes per batch	4194304
-bm, --batch-max-messages	Maximum number of messages per batch	1000
-bw, --busy-wait	Enable or disable Busy-Wait on the Pulsar client	false
-ch, --chunking	Split the message and publish in chunks if the message size is larger than allowed max size	false
-d, --delay	Mark messages with a given delay in seconds	0s
-z, --compression	Compress messages’ payload. Possible values are NONE, LZ4, ZLIB, ZSTD or SNAPPY.
-cf, --conf-file	Configuration file
-k, --encryption-key-name	The public key name to encrypt payload
-v, --encryption-key-value-file	The file which contains the public key to encrypt payload
-ef, --exit-on-failure	Exit from the process on publish failure	false
-fc, --format-class	Custom Formatter class name	org.apache.pulsar.testclient.DefaultMessageFormatter
-fp, --format-payload	Format %i as a message index in the stream from producer and/or %t as the timestamp nanoseconds	false
-h, --help	Help message	false
-c, --max-connections	Max number of TCP connections to a single broker	100
-o, --max-outstanding	Max number of outstanding messages	1000
-p, --max-outstanding-across-partitions	Max number of outstanding messages across partitions	50000
-m, --num-messages	Number of messages to publish in total. If this value is less than or equal to 0, it keeps publishing messages.	0
-mk, --message-key-generation-mode	The generation mode of message key. Valid options are autoIncrement, random
-ioThreads, --num-io-threads	Set the number of threads to be used for handling connections to brokers	1
-n, --num-producers	The number of producers (per topic)	1
-threads, --num-test-threads	Number of test threads	1
-t, --num-topic	The number of topics	1
-np, --partitions	Create partitioned topics with the given number of partitions. Setting this value to 0 means not trying to create a topic
-f, --payload-file	Use payload from an UTF-8 encoded text file and a payload will be randomly selected when publishing messages
-e, --payload-delimiter	The delimiter used to split lines when using payload from a file	\n
-pn, --producer-name	Producer Name
-r, --rate	Publish rate msg/s across topics	100
--send-timeout	Set the sendTimeout	0
--separator	Separator between the topic and topic number	-
-u, --service-url	Pulsar service URL
-s, --size	Message size (in bytes)	1024
-i, --stats-interval-seconds	Statistics interval seconds. If 0, statistics will be disabled.	0
-time, --test-duration	Test duration (in seconds). If this value is less than or equal to 0, it keeps publishing messages.	0
--trust-cert-file	Path for the trusted TLS certificate file
--warmup-time	Warm-up time in seconds	1
--tls-allow-insecure	Allow insecure TLS connection

read

Run a topic reader

Usage

$ pulsar-perf read options

Options

Flag	Description	Default
--auth-params	Authentication parameters, whose format is determined by the implementation of method configure in authentication plugin class. For example, key1:val1,key2:val2 or {"key1":"val1","key2":"val2"}.
--auth-plugin	Authentication plugin class name
--listener-name	Listener name for the broker
-cf, --conf-file	Configuration file
-h, --help	Help message	false
-n, --num-messages	Number of messages to consume in total. If the value is equal to or smaller than 0, it keeps consuming messages.	0
-c, --max-connections	Max number of TCP connections to a single broker	100
-ioThreads, --num-io-threads	Set the number of threads to be used for handling connections to brokers	1
-lt, --num-listener-threads	Set the number of threads to be used for message listeners	1
-t, --num-topics	The number of topics	1
-r, --rate	Simulate a slow message reader (rate in msg/s)	0
-q, --receiver-queue-size	Size of the receiver queue	1000
-u, --service-url	Pulsar service URL
-m, --start-message-id	Start message id. This can be either 'earliest', 'latest' or a specific message id by using 'lid:eid'	earliest
-i, --stats-interval-seconds	Statistics interval seconds. If 0, statistics will be disabled.	0
-time, --test-duration	Test duration (in seconds). If this value is less than or equal to 0, it keeps consuming messages.	0
--trust-cert-file	Path for the trusted TLS certificate file
--use-tls	Use TLS encryption on the connection	false
--tls-allow-insecure	Allow insecure TLS connection

websocket-producer

Run a websocket producer

Usage

$ pulsar-perf websocket-producer options

Options

Flag	Description	Default
--auth-params	Authentication parameters, whose format is determined by the implementation of method configure in authentication plugin class. For example, key1:val1,key2:val2 or {"key1":"val1","key2":"val2"}.
--auth-plugin	Authentication plugin class name
-cf, --conf-file	Configuration file
-h, --help	Help message	false
-m, --num-messages	Number of messages to publish in total. If this value is less than or equal to 0, it keeps publishing messages.	0
-t, --num-topic	The number of topics	1
-f, --payload-file	Use payload from a file instead of empty buffer
-e, --payload-delimiter	The delimiter used to split lines when using payload from a file	\n
-fp, --format-payload	Format %i as a message index in the stream from producer and/or %t as the timestamp nanoseconds	false
-fc, --format-class	Custom formatter class name	org.apache.pulsar.testclient.DefaultMessageFormatter
-u, --proxy-url	Pulsar Proxy URL, e.g., "ws://localhost:8080/"
-r, --rate	Publish rate msg/s across topics	100
-s, --size	Message size in byte	1024
-time, --test-duration	Test duration (in seconds). If this value is less than or equal to 0, it keeps publishing messages.	0

managed-ledger

Write directly on managed-ledgers

Usage

$ pulsar-perf managed-ledger options

Options

Flag	Description	Default
-a, --ack-quorum	Ledger ack quorum	1
-dt, --digest-type	BookKeeper digest type. Possible Values: [CRC32, MAC, CRC32C, DUMMY]	CRC32C
-e, --ensemble-size	Ledger ensemble size	1
-h, --help	Help message	false
-c, --max-connections	Max number of TCP connections to a single bookie	1
-o, --max-outstanding	Max number of outstanding requests	1000
-m, --num-messages	Number of messages to publish in total. If this value is less than or equal to 0, it keeps publishing messages.	0
-t, --num-topic	Number of managed ledgers	1
-r, --rate	Write rate msg/s across managed ledgers	100
-s, --size	Message size in byte	1024
-time, --test-duration	Test duration (in seconds). If this value is less than or equal to 0, it keeps publishing messages.	0
--threads	Number of threads writing	1
-w, --write-quorum	Ledger write quorum	1
-md, --metadata-store	Metadata store service URL. For example: zk:my-zk:2181

monitor-brokers

Continuously receive broker data and/or load reports

Usage

$ pulsar-perf monitor-brokers options

Options

Flag	Description	Default
--connect-string	A connection string for one or more ZooKeeper servers
-h, --help	Help message	false

simulation-client

Run a simulation server acting as a Pulsar client. Uses the client configuration specified in conf/client.conf.

Usage

$ pulsar-perf simulation-client options

Options

Flag	Description	Default
--port	Port to listen on for controller	0
--service-url	Pulsar Service URL
-h, --help	Help message	false

simulation-controller

Run a simulation controller to give commands to servers

Usage

$ pulsar-perf simulation-controller options

Options

Flag	Description	Default
--client-port	The port that the clients are listening on	0
--clients	Comma-separated list of client hostnames
--cluster	The cluster to test on
-h, --help	Help message	false

help

This help message

Usage

$ pulsar-perf help

bookkeeper

A tool for managing BookKeeper.

Usage

$ bookkeeper command

Commands

• autorecovery
• bookie
• localbookie
• upgrade
• shell

Environment variables

The table below lists the environment variables that you can use to configure the bookkeeper tool.

Variable	Description	Default
BOOKIE_LOG_CONF	Log4j configuration file	conf/log4j2.yaml
BOOKIE_CONF	BookKeeper configuration file	conf/bk_server.conf
BOOKIE_EXTRA_OPTS	Extra options to be passed to the JVM
BOOKIE_EXTRA_CLASSPATH	Extra paths for BookKeeper's classpath
ENTRY_FORMATTER_CLASS	The Java class used to format entries
BOOKIE_PID_DIR	Folder where the BookKeeper server PID file should be stored
BOOKIE_STOP_TIMEOUT	Wait time before forcefully killing the Bookie server instance if attempts to stop it are not successful
BOOKIE_GC_LOG	Gc options to be passed to the jvm

autorecovery

Runs an auto-recovery service

Usage

$ bookkeeper autorecovery options

Options

Flag	Description	Default
-c, --conf	Configuration for the auto-recovery

bookie

Starts up a BookKeeper server (aka bookie)

Usage

$ bookkeeper bookie options

Options

Flag	Description	Default
-c, --conf	Configuration for the auto-recovery
-readOnly	Force start a read-only bookie server	false
-withAutoRecovery	Start auto-recovery service bookie server	false

localbookie

Runs a test ensemble of N bookies locally

Usage

$ bookkeeper localbookie N

upgrade

Upgrade the bookie’s filesystem

Usage

$ bookkeeper upgrade options

Options

Flag	Description	Default
-c, --conf	Configuration for the auto-recovery
-u, --upgrade	Upgrade the bookie’s directories

shell

Run shell for admin commands. To see a full listing of those commands, run bookkeeper shell without an argument.

Usage

$ bookkeeper shell

Example

$ bookkeeper shell bookiesanity

broker-tool

The broker- tool is used for operations on a specific broker.

Usage

$ broker-tool command

Commands

• load-report
• help

Example Two ways to get more information about a command as below:

$ broker-tool help command
$ broker-tool command --help

load-report

Collect the load report of a specific broker. The command is run on a broker, and used for troubleshooting why broker can’t collect right load report.

Options

Flag	Description	Default
-i, --interval	Interval to collect load report, in milliseconds
-h, --help	Display help information