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ksqlDB

ksqlDB
ksqlDB and Kafka Streams for Confluent Platform

confluent:

Real-time data demands real-time processing​

Now that your data is in motion, it’s time to make sense of it. Stream processing enables you to derive instant insights from your data streams, but setting up the infrastructure to support it can be complex. That’s why Confluent developed ksqlDB, the database purpose-built for stream processing applications.

ksqlDB is a database purpose-built to help developers create stream processing applications on top of Apache Kafka®.

ksqlDB architecture and components​

architecture-01.png

Use Cases​

  • Materialized Cache: Build and serve incrementally updated stateful views. Useful for applications requiring up-to-date information without continuous database queries.
  • Streaming ETL Pipeline: Manipulate in-flight data to connect arbitrary sources and sinks. Facilitates seamless real-time data integration across systems.
  • Event-Driven Microservices: Trigger changes based on observed event patterns in a stream. Ideal for real-time notifications, monitoring, and automated decision-making systems.
  • Stream Processing Cookbook: Use predefined recipes to quickly implement common streaming data tasks, which benefits beginners and experienced users.

Pros​

  • Strong Kafka Integration: Built-in integration with Apache Kafka for streamlined event-streaming applications.
  • Low Latency: Delivers latency as low as ten milliseconds, ideal for real-time analytics.
  • SQL Interface: Familiar SQL interface for easy adoption.
  • Fault Tolerance: Built-in fault tolerance mechanisms.

Cons​

  • Limited Analytics Capability: Lags behind competitors like Flink and Spark in advanced analytics tools.
  • Learning Curve: Slightly steeper learning curve compared to simpler frameworks.
  • ETL Limitations: Not ideal for complex ETL operations. Checkpointing Challenges: Advanced checkpointing mechanisms are lacking, impacting exact-once processing in complex scenarios.

ksqlDB Distributions​

ksqlDB for Confluent Platform​

ksqlDB for Confluent Platform is packaged as part of Confluent Platform. This is a commercial component of Confluent Platform. ksqlDB for Confluent Platform includes enterprise features, like role-based access control. You can install it by using the cp-ksqldb-cli and cp-ksqldb-server Docker images or by using TAR, ZIP, or Systemd deployments. For more information, see On-Premises Deployments.

Control Center is a graphical interface for Confluent Platform and provides the convenience of running streaming queries on one or more ksqlDB clusters. For more information, see Manage ksqlDB Using Control Center for Confluent Platform.

ksqlDB for Confluent Cloud​

ksqlDB is available as a hosted offering in Confluent Cloud. For more information, see ksqlDB for Confluent Cloud.