Configure the PostgreSQL server: set wal_level = logical in postgresql.conf and grant the connector user REPLICATION privilege and SELECT on the tables to capture.
Create a replication slot on Postgres using the pgoutput plugin (built-in since Postgres 10) or the decoderbufs plugin if preferred.
POST the connector configuration to the Kafka Connect REST API with connector.class set to io.debezium.connector.postgresql.PostgresConnector and required fields: database.hostname, database.port, database.user, database.password, database.dbname, database.server.name, and plugin.name.
Verify the connector status reaches RUNNING and the initial snapshot completes by monitoring the connector's status topic and Kafka topic creation for each captured table.
Monitor the replication slot lag using SELECT * FROM pg_replication_slots to ensure the connector is consuming changes and the slot is not growing unbounded.
Known gotchas
Replication slots are retained until explicitly dropped; if the connector stops consuming, the slot holds WAL files on disk and can cause the Postgres data directory to fill up.
The database user must have REPLICATION privilege and sufficient table access; using a superuser is convenient but not recommended for production.
Table schema changes (DDL) after the initial snapshot require careful handling — Debezium can track schema changes but some DDL operations may halt the connector if not configured to handle schema evolution.
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