Expanding Confluent's Integration with Microsoft Azure®: Create and Manage Confluent Resources Directly from the Azure Portal with Confluent's Fully Managed Connectors (Preview)

We are thrilled to announce yet another milestone in our integration capabilities with Microsoft Azure. Now, you can manage Confluent resources (Preview) directly from the Azure portal. This new capability not only simplifies the setup and management process but also empowers you to leverage the full potential of Confluent's data streaming platform on Azure.

Background

A few months ago, we introduced the ability for customers to manage users and permissions from Azure, enabling deeper integration and streamlined operations. This feature laid a strong foundation for efficient management and control, empowering organizations to leverage the power of Confluent within their Azure ecosystem.

Building on this success, we are excited to introduce the next step in our integration journey: the ability to create and manage Confluent resources directly from the Azure portal. This new capability empowers users to harness the full potential of Azure’s environment, making it easier than ever to create, manage, and optimize your data streaming infrastructure.

What are the Confluent resources on Azure?

As of today, our integration supports the following Confluent operations via the Azure portal in preview mode:

• Topics: Define and manage topics directly within Azure, ensuring seamless communication channels between producers and consumers.

• Clusters: Deploy and manage Confluent clusters within your Azure environment, enabling scalable and resilient data streaming architectures.

• Environments: Set up and maintain different environments for development, testing, and production, all within the familiar Azure interface.

• Confluent connectors: Easily configure and manage connectors to integrate various data sources and sinks, including:

  • Azure Blob Storage Sink: Effortlessly stream data from Confluent into Azure Blob Storage for long-term storage, analysis, and processing.

  • Azure Blob Storage Source: Ingest data from Azure Blob Storage into Confluent, enabling real-time processing and analytics.

Why this feature matters

This integration supports enterprise customers that need to process large volumes of real-time data, such as customer interactions or transactional data. With Confluent's integration into the Azure portal, you can effortlessly set up and manage clusters, topics, and connectors, all within Azure. This enables you to analyze and act on data instantly, improving decision-making and operational efficiency.

The integration of Confluent’s connectors with Microsoft Azure brings several key benefits that enhance the customer experience:

• Seamless integration: The ability to create Confluent resources directly from the Azure portal delivers a unified and intuitive experience. This integration eliminates the need to toggle between different platforms, simplifying the setup and management process.

• Enhanced data streaming: Confluent’s connectors are powerful tools that enable robust data streaming. With direct integration into Azure, customers can effortlessly manage real-time data flows, ensuring their data is always up to date and readily available for processing.

• Improved efficiency: The management of Confluent resources from a single platform streamlines operations, reducing complexity and operational overhead. This integration is designed to save time, minimize errors, and enhance the overall efficiency of your data streaming workflows.

See the demo here:

Next steps

Experience the integrated power of Confluent on Azure today. Explore our offerings in the Azure Marketplace, and see how this integration can transform your data streaming capabilities. Get started with $1,000 in free credits—an exclusive offer to help you unleash the full potential of Confluent. Try it out now on Azure Marketplace and share your feedback. 

Check out the step-by-step guide on creating connectors in Azure portal and the TechComm blog from Microsoft for additional insights on setting up and managing Confluent resources within Azure.

As we continue to expand our integration with Azure, our next milestone will introduce support for the Azure CLI, enabling even greater flexibility and automation in managing Confluent resources. Stay tuned for more updates!

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