CONFLUENT CLOUD ONBOARDING: NEXT STEPS FOR NEW CUSTOMERS

INTRODUCTION

Congratulations! You’ve set up your first cluster, created topics, and sent data to Confluent Cloud. Now it’s time to move to the next stage: optimizing your architecture, connecting real data sources, enabling security and monitoring, and preparing for production workloads. Follow the steps below to get the most out of your Confluent Cloud deployment.

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STEP 1: ORGANIZE AND MANAGE DATA WITH MULTIPLE TOPICS

• Create separate topics for each use case or data stream (e.g., orders, inventory, user-events).
• Use naming conventions for clarity and maintenance, such as department.event-type.prod or team-usecase-dev.
• Set topic retention policies to match your business needs (e.g., 7 days, 30 days, or infinite retention for compliance).

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STEP 2: CONNECT REAL DATA SOURCES AND SINKS

• Use Connectors to integrate with cloud storage, databases, SaaS, and analytics platforms.
  • Go to Connectors in the Confluent Cloud dashboard.
  • Browse or search for available sources (like Postgres, MySQL, or Salesforce) and sinks (like BigQuery, S3, or Elasticsearch).
  • Configure the connector with your data source credentials and connection information.
• Monitor connector status and logs directly in the UI.

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STEP 3: ENABLE AND MANAGE ACCESS CONTROL

• Use Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) to assign fine-grained permissions to users and service accounts.
  • Navigate to Management > RBAC.
  • Assign roles such as CloudClusterAdmin, DeveloperWrite, or ReadOnly as appropriate.
  • Restrict API keys and credentials to the minimum privileges needed.
• Regularly review user and service account access for security compliance.

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STEP 4: IMPLEMENT NETWORK SECURITY BEST PRACTICES

• Restrict network access using IP allowlisting, PrivateLink (AWS) or VPC Peering.
• Only expose clusters to approved applications, users, or networks.
• Configure network settings under Cluster settings > Networking.

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STEP 5: ENABLE SCHEMA REGISTRY

• Go to Schema Registry on your dashboard.
• Enable the Confluent Schema Registry and link it to your Kafka clusters.
• Register Avro, Protobuf, or JSON schemas for your topics to enforce data consistency and evolve schemas safely.
• Update your producer and consumer clients to use the Schema Registry endpoint.

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STEP 6: SET UP MONITORING, ALERTING, AND LOGGING

• Navigate to Metrics & Monitoring for dashboards on throughput, consumer lag, latency, and broker health.
• Use Datadog, Prometheus, or Splunk integrations if needed.
• Configure alerts for key metrics (such as high consumer lag, low throughput, or errors).
• Enable audit logs for compliance and troubleshooting under your account or cluster settings.

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STEP 7: TEST DATA DURABILITY AND DISASTER RECOVERY

• Set up multi-zone availability (if using a Standard or Dedicated cluster) for high availability and fault tolerance.
• Test failover by simulating consumer/producer outages and measuring recovery.
• Use Cluster Linking or Replicator to back up topics across environments or regions.

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STEP 8: PREPARE FOR PRODUCTION LAUNCH

• Document your data flow, topics, connectors, and security roles.
• Review Confluent’s Production Readiness Checklist.
• Conduct load tests to ensure clusters can handle expected throughput.
• Monitor resource usage; adjust cluster scale/type as needed.

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: How can I scale my cluster up or down?
A: For Basic and Standard clusters, scaling is automatic. For Dedicated clusters, contact Confluent Support to adjust resources.

Q: How do I manage multiple environments (dev, staging, prod)?
A: Create separate clusters and restrict user and service account access for each environment. Use topic naming conventions to clearly distinguish between environments.

Q: Can I automate cluster management and workflows?
A: Yes! Use the Confluent Cloud CLI or APIs for scripting and automation.

Q: What if I hit a usage or connection limit?
A: Review cluster limits in the documentation. For Dedicated clusters or custom needs, submit a support request via Zendesk.

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Production Readiness Guide
• Security Best Practices
• Scaling and Performance Tuning
• Connector Catalog
• Schema Registry Documentation

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NEED MORE HELP? USE THE ZENDESK CHAT WIDGET OR SUBMIT A SUPPORT REQUEST.
THE CONFLUENT TEAM IS HERE TO HELP YOU SCALE TO PRODUCTION!