We were privileged to work with a leading global organisation based in Germany that embarked on an ambitious project to simplify its Kafka management through a self-service portal with Conduktor. This case study describes the journey from concept to realisation, highlighting the challenges we faced and the solutions we implemented. As an IT consultancy, we had already helped our client to set up a highly available, redundant Kafka cluster. Our client now wanted to empower its internal teams by enabling internal users to manage Kafka topics and users independently, without requiring deep technical knowledge of Kafka, aiming to simplify data management. 

The Challenge

Developing a Kafka self-service interface presented a number of challenges: We needed to design a solution that would ensure that the portal was intuitive for users to use, while minimising the risk of misconfiguring. The solution also had to be compliant with the strict internal security policies in place.

The Solution

We took a methodical and strategic approach to designing and implementing the self-service portal. First, we developed an operational concept. After extensive research and evaluation, we identified Conduktor as the ideal platform for our requirements. 

The tool’s self-service portal capabilities allowed us to set clear management policies that ensured ease of use without compromising functionality or security. This choice proved critical in finding the perfect balance between user autonomy and operational integrity. 

Using Infrastructure as Code (IaC), we carefully configured and developed the Conduktor project into a production-ready service, seamlessly integrating it into the existing Kafka ecosystem.

Why did we use Conduktor?

Conduktor offered a number of features that greatly benefited the project:

Its monitoring capabilities, delivered through an easy-to-use interface, provided real-time insight into the operational status of Kafka, including clusters, topics and consumer groups - even for users without in-depth knowledge of Kafka. 

The tool's feature set ensures that users can effectively manage tasks within the portal while adhering to security and governance standards. 

Conduktor's focus on security, with detailed permission settings and the ability to view audit logs, ensures that the self-service portal meets the customer's internal security requirements. 

In addition, the tool enables the smooth transition of resources between environments, allowing our team to fine-tune configurations in a staging environment before moving to production. 

Conclusion

The successful deployment of the self-service portal has had a positive impact on the operational data management of Kafka clusters in a number of our customer's internal projects. It is also an example of Hivemind's expertise in the delivery of innovative and effective solutions. We are proud to have supported our customer on this journey.