Apache Kafka on Heroku Connection URLs Changing from IP Addresses to Host Names on July 12, 2017
Change effective on 28 June 2017
The KAFKA_URL environment variable used when connecting to an Apache Kafka cluster will change from IP addresses to host names, as of July 12, 2017, in order to better support customer integration needs.
For clusters in the Common Runtime, KAFKA_URL will have host names that route to public IPs. For clusters in Private Spaces, KAFKA_URL will have host names that route to private IPs inside the Space.
This change should be backward compatible with most Kafka clients, unless specific changes have been made to deal only with IPs.