Cloud platforms are becoming more popular, but managing several infrastructure solutions has become tedious. The best answer is to adopt Aiven, a multi-cloud platform that allows users to access numerous cloud services in one place. Besides, Aiven has made setting up cloud databases simpler. It transforms open-source data technologies into managed cloud services, allowing developers all around the world to focus on developing reliable applications.
In addition, Aiven for Apache Kafka is a fully managed data streaming platform that is deployable in any desired cloud platform. This blog will help us set up Aiven Kafka in our system along with a few Aiven tools.
Table Of Contents
Prerequisites
Fundamental knowledge of cloud platforms.
What is Apache Kafka?
Apache Kafka is a popular open-source, streaming platform developed by the Apache Software Foundation. The recent stable version of Kafka is 3.1.0, and it is programmed in Scala and Java. Originally Kafka was designed to be used as a publish-subscribe (Pub-Sub) message broker. Kafka is a distributed platform for real-time data streaming and analysis that can handle thousands of clients and hundreds of gigabytes per second. In other words, Kafka is used for strengthening the durability of microservice architectures by offering high throughput, scalability, fault tolerance, and low latency.
To gain more insights on Apache Kakfa, click here.
What does Aiven for Apache Kafka mean?
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Aiven for Apache Kafka is a fully managed cloud platform that can run as well as manage open-source databases and messaging systems on all major cloud platforms. This cloud technology company was launched in January 2016 by Oskari Saarenmaa, Hannu Valtonen, Heikki Nousiainen, and Mika Eloranta. Aiven optimizes the entire open-source ecosystem of tools to build high-performance data pipelines for event-driven applications on all leading cloud platforms. In other words, Aiven makes it easier to run data pipelines on the cloud data infrastructure and empowers users to leverage open source to create business results.
Currently, Aiven offers a “database-as-a-service” for nine popular open-source data technologies/tools as follows: Apache Kafka, Apache Cassandra, MySQL, PostgreSQL, M3, Redis, OpenSearch (Elasticsearch fork), InfluxDB, and Grafana. It is also available in over +90 regions around the world on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), DigitalOcean, and UpCloud cloud platforms.
Aiven also offers different types of service plans: Startup, Business, and Premium. Each plan has its cluster sizing and capacity, and charges on an hourly basis. Custom plans for larger deployments or those with particular requirements can also be requested. To handle changes in the requirements, Aiven also allows users to transition between plans with no downtime.
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Key Components of Aiven Kafka
Read along to learn about the key components for working with Aiven Kafka:
1. Authentication Tokens
Aiven allows users to access resources programmatically rather than using a username and password. Each time a user logs into the Aiven, the server generates a new authentication token. These tokens are scheduled to expire after 30 days. However, the expiration date is updated every time the token is used.
2. Cloud Security
The Aiven services are hosted under the cloud provider accounts controlled by Aiven.
- Virtual Machines– Each Aiven service comprises one or more virtual machines launched automatically on the cloud platform selected by the users. Virtual machines are terminated and wiped upon service upgrade or termination.
- Customer Data Privacy– Customer data privacy holds utmost priority for Aiven and is covered by Internal Security and Customer Privacy policies and EU regulations.
- Periodic Security Evaluation– Aiven services are assessed periodically and tested by an independent professional cyber security vendor for every security issue.
3. Beta Services
Any service labeled as beta is for early access use in non-production environments. Aiven makes new services available to all clients in beta form so that users may test and confirm your business needs for these services.
4. Database Forking
Taking a copy of a database and making modifications that will not impact the source database is known as Database Forking. Aiven service supports forking and enables users to make a copy of the database. Users can create a development copy of the production environment, produce a snapshot to troubleshoot an issue, test an upgrade, or establish an instance in a new cloud/geographical location under a different service plan. The following components are replicated into the new service when users fork a service: Databases, Configurations, Service users, and Connection pools.
Getting Started with Aiven Kafka Tools
1. Aiven Web Console
The Aiven web console is the easiest way to get started with Aiven services. Users can explore the services by logging into the Aiven account.
2. Aiven CLI
Aiven provides an installable command-line interface (CLI) tool, which can be used to access the same API that powers the web console.
- Step 1: Install from PyPi (recommended).
pip install aiven-client
- Step 2: Check Installation.
Check if the tool is installed and working.
avn
A simple way to use Aiven CLI is to authenticate it with the username and password you use on Aiven:
avn user login <you@example.com>
The command prompts for your password.
- Step 4: Use the access token generated in the Aiven Console.
avn user login <you@example.com> --token
avn user login <user@aiven.io>
- Step 5: Find help with user admin.
avn user -h
- Step 6: Get session/auth info on all users in your project.
avn user info
avn logout
3. Aiven API
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The Aiven API allows users to perform many tasks on Aiven from a client of their choice. The API is a traditional HTTP API.
- Step 1: Users are first required to obtain an authentication token from the Aiven console. This will be sent as an Authorization header, like this:
Authorization: Bearer <TOKEN>
- Step 2: The Aiven API returns the information in JSON format.
4. Aiven Terraform Provider
Terraform is an open-source platform as a service that allows users to manage hundreds of cloud services in a uniform CLI workflow. It also codifies cloud APIs into declarative configuration files.
- Step 1: Install Go from its official website OR install Terraform binaries from the Aiven Terraform provider releases page.
- Step 2: Open the shell and Install Terraform.
go get -u github.com/hashicorp/terraform
- Step 3: Install Aiven Terraform provider.
go get -u github.com/aiven/terraform-provider-aiven
- Step 4: Navigate through the directory with the Terraform scripts or create a directory and scripts. Define the following properties: API token, project name, and card ID. Now, run terraform init in the directory that has the Terraform scripts to initialize Terraform.
How to set up Aiven Kafka Connection?
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- Step 3: A new page appears with available service options. Select Kafka.
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- Step 4: Choose the version you want to use. However, if not chosen, by default, the latest version is selected.
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- Step 5: Next, choose the public cloud provider you want to deploy it and the region that works best for you.
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- Step 6: Now, Select the Service plan that suits your workload – pricing is all-inclusive of all networks, and storage costs are already covered.
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- Step 7: Finally, give this setup a name and click Create service.
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- Step 8: Kafka service is created.
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Aiven Kafka Products
1. Aiven for Apache Kafka Connect
Kafka Connect is a framework that allows users to scale Apache Kafka and Kafka Connect separately and connect Apache Kafka with external systems databases through source and sink connectors. The core workload of Apache Kafka connect is more stable and performant. It is currently hosted on popular cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, Digital Ocean, and UpCloud.
2. Aiven for Apache Kafka Mirror Maker 2
Kafka MirrorMaker is a tool for replicating data across two Apache Kafka clusters located within or through data centers. MirrorMaker 2 support is provided in Aiven for Kafka for both Aiven controlled and external Kafka clusters. It maintains data continuity by allowing replication processes to be robust, versatile, and scalable. MirrorMaker 2 is currently hosted on popular cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, Digital Ocean, and UpCloud.
3. Aiven for Apache Flink Beta
It uses the SQL language to support real-time analytics and ETL needs. With SQL language support and easy integrations to other open source technologies, Flink as a service is ready to handle event stream processing requirements. It is currently in Beta. However, users can use it to develop and test production workloads. Aiven is hosted on popular cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform.
Conclusion
From small to large, manufacturing to technology-driven, Aiven has helped customers of all sizes and verticals to accomplish their goals. Aiven is now one of the leading cloud data infrastructures offering a variety of cloud services under one roof. Similarly, Aiven for Apache Kafka has benefited several businesses in enabling the continuous innovation necessary to construct data-intensive applications using multiple open source technologies.
However, as a Developer, extracting complex data from a diverse set of data sources like Databases, CRMs, Project management Tools, Streaming Services, and Marketing Platforms to your PostgreSQL Database can seem to be quite challenging. If you are from non-technical background or are new in the game of data warehouse and analytics, Hevo Data can help!
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Shravani is a data science enthusiast who loves to delve deeper into complex topics on data science and solve the problems related to data integration and analysis through comprehensive content for data practitioners and businesses.