# Send data to the MSK cluster
<a name="mkc-send-data"></a>

In this step you send data to the Apache Kafka topic that you created earlier, and then look for that same data in the destination S3 bucket.

**To send data to the MSK cluster**

1. In the `bin` folder of the Apache Kafka installation on the client instance, create a text file named `client.properties` with the following contents.

   ```
   security.protocol=SASL_SSL
   sasl.mechanism=AWS_MSK_IAM
   ```

1. Run the following command to create a console producer. Replace *BootstrapBrokerString* with the value that you obtained when you ran the previous command.

   ```
   <path-to-your-kafka-installation>/bin/kafka-console-producer.sh --broker-list BootstrapBrokerString --producer.config client.properties --topic mkc-tutorial-topic
   ```

1. Enter any message that you want, and press **Enter**. Repeat this step two or three times. Every time you enter a line and press **Enter**, that line is sent to your Apache Kafka cluster as a separate message.

1. Look in the destination Amazon S3 bucket to find the messages that you sent in the previous step.