> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.kinetica.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Kafka Stream Import Using the *Kafka Stream Import* wizard, data from a *Kafka* topic can be streamed into *Kinetica*. To stream data from *Kafka* into *Kinetica*, click on the **Kafka Stream** panel on the [Import](/content/admin/workbench/ui/import) landing page in [Workbench](/content/admin/workbench). The **Kafka Stream Import** wizard appears in the right-hand pane. ../../../images/wb.import_kafka.png The wizard has two tabs: * **Import** - contains the 5-step process for streaming data from *Kafka* * **History** - lists all of your previous *Kafka* stream attempts ## Import Overview When importing, the following five steps will need to be completed: * [Setup](#setup) * [Source](#source) * [Destination](#destination) * [Configure](#configure) * [Summary](#summary) At any step, the following actions are available at the bottom of the screen: * **Next** - proceed to the next step * **Back** - return to the previous step * **Cancel** - exit the import process * **Import** - once enough information has been specified to begin importing data, the **Import** button will become active ## Setup In this step, the [data source](/content/sql/ddl#sql-create-data-source) used to connect to *Kafka* is selected. * **Create New Data Source** - click to create a new *data source* that connects to *Kafka*, then enter its configuration and click **Create** to create the *data source* and proceed to the **Source** selection page: * **Name** - enter a unique name for the *data source* * **URL** - enter the host & port of the *Kafka* service to use * **Topic Name** - enter the name of the *Kafka* topic from which data will be streamed * **Auth Type** - select an authorization scheme; this will prompt with the appropriate fields for the scheme selected To authenticate to *Kafka* services via other authentication schemes, create a [Kafka Credential](/content/sql/ddl#sql-create-credential) via SQL (in a [Workbook](/content/admin/workbench/workbooks), for example) and then create a [Kafka Data Source](/content/sql/ddl#sql-create-data-source) that uses the credential * **Select Existing Data Source** - click to select an existing *data source* that connects to *Kafka* and then click **Next** to proceed to the **Source** selection page: * **Data Source** - click to open a drop-down of available *data sources* that connect to *Kafka* and select one ## Source In this step, the source data options are configured, if necessary. * **Source** - pre-selected as the name of the *data source* chosen in the previous step * **Format** - pre-selected as JSON * **Poll Interval** - the time (in seconds) between successive requests to *Kafka* for more data * **Store Points As X/Y** - check the box to store GeoJSON data as separate X, Y, & Z columns, instead of a WKT-based format Once the source configuration is complete, click **Next** to proceed to the **Destination** selection page. ## Destination In this step, the target table to import into is selected. * **Schema** - name of the schema containing the target table; if blank, the user's [default schema](/content/concepts/schemas#schema-default) will be used * **Table** - name of the target table, which must meet [table naming criteria](/content/concepts/tables#table-naming-criteria); *Workbench* will suggest a table name here, if possible * **Abort on Error** - check, to have the import stop at the first record import failure; any records imported by this point will remain in the target table * **Bad Records Table** - when **Abort on Error** is unchecked the errant records will be written to the specified table * **Schema** - schema in which the bad records table should reside * **Table** - name for the bad records table Once the destination has been specified, click **Next** to proceed to the **Configure** page. ## Configure In this step, the target table's structure can be specified, if the table does not exist. Not specifying any structure will cause the import process to infer the table's structure from the source data. To specify a table structure, click **+ Add Column** once for each field in the source data, then enter the specification for each column, including: * **Name** - name of the column, which must meet the standard [naming criteria](/content/concepts/tables#table-naming-criteria) * **Type** - type of the column, and sub-type, if applicable * **Nullable** - check the box if the column should allow *null* values * **Properties** - check any properties that should apply to this column: * **Primary Key** - make this column the [primary key](/content/concepts/tables#primary-key) or part of a *composite primary key* * **Shard Key** - make this column the [shard key](/content/concepts/tables#shard-key) or part of a *composite shard key* * **Dict. Encoded** - apply [dictionary encoding](/content/concepts/dictionary_encoding) to the column's values, reducing storage used for columns with more often repeated data * **Init. with Now** - replace empty or invalid values inserted into this column with the current date/time * **Init. with UUID** - replace empty values inserted into this column with a universally unique identifier (UUID) * **Text Search** - make this column [full-text searchable](/content/concepts/full_text_search), using [FILTER\_BY\_STRING](/content/sql/query#sql-string-functions-fts) in *search* mode To remove a column from the proposed target table, click the trash can icon at the far right of the column's definition. Once the table configuration has been established, click **Next** to proceed to the **Summary** page. ## Summary In this step, the import configuration will be displayed. All **Source**, **Destination**, & **Error Handling** configuration will be displayed in their respective sections. The **Generated SQL** section will contain the SQL [LOAD INTO](/content/sql/load#sql-load-into) command corresponding to the import operation that will take place. The copy-to-clipboard icon can be used to copy the SQL statement for subsequent use, to re-import data from the same file into the same table. Once the data stream configuration has been confirmed, click **Import** to begin streaming data.