AWS Big Data Blog

Category: Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka (Amazon MSK)

Migrate third-party and self-managed Apache Kafka clusters to Amazon MSK Express brokers with Amazon MSK Replicator

In this post, we walk you through how to replicate Apache Kafka data from your external Apache Kafka deployments to Amazon MSK Express brokers using MSK Replicator. You will learn how to configure authentication on your external cluster, establish network connectivity, set up bidirectional replication, and monitor replication health to achieve a low-downtime migration.

Streamline Apache Kafka topic management with Amazon MSK

In this post, we show you how to use the new topic management capabilities of Amazon MSK to streamline your Apache Kafka operations. We demonstrate how to manage topics through the console, control access with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), and bring topic provisioning into your continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines.

Securely connect Kafka client applications to your Amazon MSK Serverless cluster from different VPCs and AWS accounts

In this post, we show you how Kafka clients can use Zilla Plus to securely access your MSK Serverless clusters through Identity and Access Management (IAM) authentication over PrivateLink, from as many different AWS accounts or VPCs as needed. We also show you how the solution provides a way to support a custom domain name for your MSK Serverless cluster.

Architecture diagram showing a hybrid AWS setup where an on-premises MSK client connects to Amazon MSK Provisioned and Serverless clusters via AWS Direct Connect or VPN, using IAM Roles Anywhere, AWS STS, Route 53, and VPC endpoints for secure, private Kafka connectivity.

Securely connect Kafka clients running outside AWS to Amazon MSK with IAM Roles Anywhere

In this post, we demonstrate how to use AWS IAM Roles Anywhere to request temporary AWS security credentials, using x.509 certificates for client applications which enables secure interactions with an Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka (Amazon MSK) cluster. The solution described in this post is compatible with both Amazon MSK Provisioned and Serverless clusters.

Set up production-ready monitoring for Amazon MSK using CloudWatch alarms

In this post, I show you how to implement effective monitoring for your Kafka clusters using Amazon MSK and Amazon CloudWatch. You’ll learn how to track critical metrics like broker health, resource utilization, and consumer lag, and set up automated alerts to prevent operational issues.

Use Amazon MSK Connect and Iceberg Kafka Connect to build a real-time data lake

In this post, we demonstrate how to use Iceberg Kafka Connect with Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka (Amazon MSK) Connect to accelerate real-time data ingestion into data lakes, simplifying the synchronization process from transactional databases to Apache Iceberg tables.

This horizontal process flow diagram illustrates the automated scaling and rebalancing workflow for Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka (MSK). The diagram demonstrates how MSK clusters continuously monitor performance, evaluate scaling requirements, execute scaling operations, and automatically rebalance partitions to maintain optimal performance without manual intervention.

On-demand and scheduled scaling of Amazon MSK Express based clusters

Amazon MSK Express brokers are a key component to dynamically scaling clusters to meet demand. Express based clusters deliver 3 times higher throughput, 20 times faster scaling capabilities, and 90% faster broker recovery compared to Amazon MSK Provisioned clusters. In addition, Express brokers support intelligent rebalancing for 180 times faster operation performance, so partitions are automatically and consistently well distributed across brokers. Intelligent rebalancing automatically tracks cluster health and triggers partition redistribution when resource imbalances are detected, maintaining performance across brokers. This post demonstrates how to use the intelligent rebalancing feature and build a custom solution that scales Express based clusters horizontally (adding and removing brokers) dynamically based on Amazon CloudWatch metrics and predefined schedules. The solution provides capacity management while maintaining cluster performance and minimizing overhead.