Consume test messages from a Hermes topic using the Kafka client

Consume test messages from a Hermes topic by configuring two consumer clients.

Before you begin

Secure your Kafka topics by generating a ServiceNow® instance-signed certificate and keystore. You must provide truststore and keystore details when you configure the Hermes consumers. See Set up a secure connection to the Hermes Messaging Service.
Download and install Apache Kafka. See Prepare your Apache Kafka client environment.
Create a topic and produce test messages in the Hermes Kafka cluster before you can consume messages. For details, see Create a test topic in Hermes using the Kafka client and Produce test messages to a Hermes topic using the Kafka client.

Role required: admin

About this task

The following steps describe how to configure two consumer clients and receive test messages from the Hermes Kafka cluster. Because Hermes uses a pair of Kafka clusters, you must configure two consumer clients with separate consumer bootstrap addresses. This ensures messages are consumed from both clusters without dropping any messages.

Important: You must configure two distinct consumer bootstrap addresses, one for each consumer client.

Refer to these steps when you are ready to consume messages from Hermes for business or production purposes.

Procedure

Navigate to the config directory where you extracted Kafka.
- For example, on Unix:
  Shell
```
cd /home/user/Software/kafka/config
```
- For example, on Windows:
  Shell
```
cd C:\Software\kafka\config
```
Configure the consumers.
1. Open the consumer.properties file.
2. Configure the following SSL properties:
  Text
```
security.protocol=SSL
ssl.truststore.password=<truststore password>
ssl.truststore.location=<path to truststore.p12>
ssl.truststore.type=PKCS12
ssl.keystore.password=<keystore password>
ssl.keystore.location=<path to keystore.p12>
ssl.keystore.type=PKCS12
ssl.key.password=<keystore password>
```
  Replace the following placeholder variables:
  - <truststore password> with your truststore password
  - <path to truststore.p12> with the path to your truststore file
  - <keystore password> with your keystore password
  - <path to keystore.p12> with the path to your keystore file
3. Save your changes in plain text.

Consume a message using each consumer.

Run the following command for the first consumer client:

Unix:

XML

./bin/kafka-console-consumer.sh --consumer.config ./config/consumer.properties --topic snc.<instance_name>.<namespace>.sn_<app_id>.<topic_name> --group snc.<instance_name>.<consumer_group_id> --from-beginning --bootstrap-server <instance_name>.service-now.com:4100,<instance_name>.service-now.com:4101,<instance_name>.service-now.com:4102,<instance_name>.service-now.com:4103

Windows:

XML

bin\windows\kafka-console-consumer.bat --consumer.config config\consumer.properties --topic snc.<instance_name>.<namespace>.sn_<app_id>.<topic_name> --group snc.<instance_name>.<consumer_group_id> --from-beginning --bootstrap-server <instance_name>.service-now.com:4100,<instance_name>.service-now.com:4101,<instance_name>.service-now.com:4102,<instance_name>.service-now.com:4103

Replace the following placeholder variables:

<instance_name> with your instance name
<namespace> with the namespace of the domain your Kafka topic belongs to (optional)
<app_id> with the application ID
<topic_name> with a test topic name
<consumer_group_id> with a label of your choice for the group that the consumer belongs to Note: Each part of the topic name is case-sensitive.

Open a new terminal window.
Navigate to the Kafka directory.

Run the following command for the second consumer client:

Unix:

XML

./bin/kafka-console-consumer.sh --consumer.config ./config/consumer.properties --topic snc.<instance_name>.<namespace>.<topic_name> --group snc.<instance_name>.<consumer_group_id> --from-beginning --bootstrap-server <instance_name>.service-now.com:4200,<instance_name>.service-now.com:4201,<instance_name>.service-now.com:4202,<instance_name>.service-now.com:4203

Windows:

XML

bin\windows\kafka-console-consumer.bat --consumer.config config\consumer.properties --topic snc.<instance_name>.<namespace>.<topic_name> --group snc.<instance_name>.<consumer_group_id> --from-beginning --bootstrap-server <instance_name>.service-now.com:4200,<instance_name>.service-now.com:4201,<instance_name>.service-now.com:4202,<instance_name>.service-now.com:4203

Replace the following placeholder variables:

<instance_name> with your instance name
<namespace> with the namespace of the domain your Kafka topic belongs to (optional)
<topic_name> with a test topic name
<consumer_group_id> with a label of your choice for the group that the consumer belongs to Note: Each part of the topic name is case-sensitive.

Result

Test messages are consumed from the Hermes Kafka cluster.

title	Consume test messages from a Hermes topic using the Kafka client
description	Consume test messages from a Hermes topic by configuring two consumer clients.
locale	en-US
canonical_url	https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/servicenow-platform/multi-instance-framework-hermes/consume-messages-hermes.html
release	australia
product	Multi-Instance Framework - Hermes
classification	multi-instance-framework-hermes
topic_type	task
last_updated	2026-09-10
reading_time_minutes	2
breadcrumb	Produce and consume messagesHermes Messaging ServiceManage service capabilitiesExtend ServiceNow AI Platform capabilities