Kafka Connect

Chapter 10. Administering Kafka Connect on Kubernetes

Kubernetes has become a popular deployment environment for many workloads. According to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), record numbers of companies are now using Kubernetes and containers as their foundation for deploying workloads. In 2021, they found that 96% of organizations were evaluating or using these technologies.

In this chapter, we look at why Kubernetes is so popular and review the considerations required for running Kafka Connect on Kubernetes. We also discuss some of the benefits that a Kubernetes operator provides, such as automating the deployment of resources, and letting you manage your workloads declaratively. Finally, we introduce the Strimzi operator as an example of one that provides support for Kafka Connect.

Introduction to Kubernetes

To understand why you might be interested in deploying Kafka Connect to Kubernetes, it is important that you understand the benefits that containers and Kubernetes provide, and some fundamentals of how these technologies work. If you are already familiar with Kubernetes, then you can skip this section.

Virtualization Technologies

Before diving into Kubernetes, let’s look at containers. A container is a self-contained virtual environment used to run an application. They allow you to run multiple different workloads on the same underlying infrastructure in an isolated way. Individual containers can have reserved CPU and memory, meaning that the applications ...