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Pulsar admin interfaces - Tools

You can manage Pulsar entities through the Pulsar admin layer via one of the following tools:

  • Pulsar admin APIs

    • Java admin API: It’s a programmable interface written in Java.

    • Go admin API (coming soon)

    • REST API: HTTP calls, which are made against the admin APIs provided by brokers. In addition, both the Java admin API and pulsar-admin CLI use the REST API.

  • pulsar-admin CLI: It’s a command-line tool and is available in the bin folder of your Pulsar installation.

Pulsar admin APIs - tools

Here are the explanations and comparisons of these tools.

CategoryToolsWhen to useConsiderations
Pulsar admin APIsJava admin API- If you want to implement your own admin interface client using Java and manage clusters.

- If you want to manage resources programmatically rather than relying on external tools inside of unit tests.

- If you want to use admin APIs in Java applications.


- This method is only available in Java.

- It needs more development work if you want to use it to build applications.
Pulsar admin APIsREST API- If you want to implement your own admin interface client using other languages and manage clusters using scripts.- This method is the most complicated.

- It needs more development work if you want to use it to build applications.
Pulsar admin CLIpulsar-admin CLI- If you want to get started with Pulsar admin APIs with minimal effort (e.g., no need to prepare an extra environment).

- If you want to perform common administrative tasks.
- This method is the most easy-to-use.

- It’s challenging to use this method to build applications.

- It takes a little more time because JVM starts slowly.