Cluster Linking for Azure Private Link is Now Available in Confluent Cloud

Many organizations run Apache Kafka® clusters in private Azure networks to meet stringent security, compliance, and operational requirements. However, securely replicating data across clusters without exposing traffic to the public internet has traditionally been complex, requiring self-managed mirroring solutions with significant operational overhead. 

Private connectivity is already available for AWS through network linking with AWS PrivateLink, and we’re excited to extend Cluster Linking with private networking support even further. That’s why we’re introducing Cluster Linking support for Azure private networking, now generally available in Confluent Cloud for Azure Private Link. This release enables secure data replication between Kafka clusters in private Azure environments. Now, public networking is no longer required to enable multi-cluster replication and data mobility. Instead, you can link Kafka clusters running in private Azure environments just as easily as you can publicly networked clusters.

With Cluster Linking support for private networking on Azure, you can:

• Keep traffic within your private network with Azure Private Link

• Reduce operational complexity by eliminating the need for self-managed mirroring solutions

• Achieve real-time, high-throughput data movement across private Kafka clusters in Azure

Unlock disaster recovery and migration use cases with Cluster Linking

Cluster Linking provides a low-latency, high-fidelity way to replicate topics across clusters, enabling real-time data movement without the need for complex mirroring setups, or public internet exposure. Whether your clusters on Azure are publicly accessible, or are securely running within Azure Private Link, you need no additional network configuration to use Cluster Linking. Simply specify the source and destination, and the link is automatically created.

With Cluster Linking support for both public and private networking, organizations can facilitate: 

• Disaster recovery: Maintain a hot standby Kafka cluster in a different Azure region to ensure business continuity with real-time replication.

• Migrations: Seamlessly migrate from self-managed Kafka or Confluent Platform to Confluent Cloud on Azure, or between clusters, without disrupting applications.

• Secure data sharing: Move streaming data between departments, business units, or hybrid environments, while keeping clusters private and secure within Azure.

Get started today

We invite you to explore the capabilities of Cluster Linking for yourself. To set up Cluster Linking for Azure Private Link, check out our documentation, and head to Confluent Cloud to start linking your private clusters today.

Cluster Linking for Azure Private Link is currently available in the following regions: West US 2, West US 3, East US, East US 2, and Central US. Additional availability in the upcoming weeks will be added in the following regions: West Europe, North Europe, Southeast Asia, Canada Central, Central India, Brazil South, and South Central US.

If you haven’t done so already, sign up for a free trial of Confluent Cloud to explore this new feature. New sign-ups receive $400 to spend within Confluent Cloud during their first 30 days. Use the code CCBLOG60 for an additional $60 of free usage.*

Apache®, Apache Kafka®, and Kafka® are registered trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation.