Deploy Confluent Platform using Confluent for Kubernetes¶

Using Confluent for Kubernetes (CFK), install Confluent Platform components in the following steps:

Review and complete the required configuration tasks for Confluent Platform components.

There might be CFK-specific considerations for some components.

For example, in CFK, ksqlDB can only be deployed in the interactive mode. CFK does not support the headless mode deployment of ksqlDB.

For detailed configuration information, refer to specific configuration pages under Configure Confluent Platform.
Specify the Confluent Platform images and the version to deploy.
Deploy Confluent Platform.
Specify the Confluent Control Center image and the version to deploy.
Deploy Confluent Control Center.
Validate deployment.

Specify the Confluent Platform images and the version to deploy¶

For the Confluent Platform components you want to deploy, specify the Docker image names and the version tags in the components custom resources (CRs).

See Confluent Docker Image Reference for the list of Confluent images.

The tags are the version of Confluent Platform. For example, for Schema Registry version 8.0.0, set application: confluentinc/cp-schema-registry:8.0.0 in the Schema Registry CR.

See how to specify different Confluent Platform versions in the component custom resources.
Specify the init container in spec.image.init:. The tag of the init container is the version of Confluent for Kubernetes (CFK).

To deploy the 6.2.0 and later versions of Confluent Platform, you must use the confluent-init-container instead of the legacy cp-init-container-operator.

An example Schema Registry CR to deploy Schema Registry 8.0.0 with CFK 3.0.0:
```
kind: SchemaRegistry
metadata:
  name: schemaregistry
  namespace: confluent
spec:
  replicas: 1
  image:
    application: confluentinc/cp-schema-registry:8.0.0
    init: confluentinc/confluent-init-container:3.0.0
```
Specify the number of replicas for Confluent Platform components in the component CRs using the spec.replicas property.

In the Schema Registry CR example in the previous step, one Schema Registry replica is to be deployed.

Note that you can deploy only one replica of Control Center in CFK.
If you are using CFK 3.x to deploy Confluent Platform 7.x, you need to set the following annotation in the component CR to use Log4j. CFK 3.x uses Log4j 2 by default. When the annotation is set to true, CFK will deploy the Confluent Platform component with Log4j.
```
kind: <Component>
metadata:
  annotations:
    platform.confluent.io/use-log4j1: true
```

Deploy Confluent Platform¶

Apply the Confluent Platform CR configurations. You can apply one configuration file for all Confluent Platform components, or apply multiple configuration files for individual Confluent Platform component.
```
kubectl apply -f <CR>
```
Check that all Confluent Platform resources are successfully deployed:
```
kubectl get pods
```

Specify the Confluent Control Center image and the version to deploy¶

You can deploy only one replica of Control Center (spec.replica: 1) in CFK.

To deploy Control Center, specify the Docker image name and the version tags in the Control Center CR in spec.image.application. The tag is the version of Control Center.

For example:

kind: ControlCenter
spec:
  image:
    application: confluentinc/cp-enterprise-control-center-next-gen:2.2.0
    init: confluentinc/confluent-init-container:3.0.0

Specify the init container in spec.image.init:. The tag of the init container is the version of CFK.

The init container tag should be at least 2.11.1 to deploy Control Center.

<c3-tag> is the Control Center release you are installing.

An example Control Center CR:

kind: ControlCenter
metadata:
  name: control-center-next-gen
  namespace: confluent
spec:
  replicas: 1
  image:
    application: confluentinc/cp-enterprise-control-center-next-gen:<c3-tag>
    init: confluentinc/confluent-init-container:<c3-tag>

Specify the Prometheus and Alertmanager images and tags:

kind: ControlCenter
metadata:
  name: control-center-next-gen
  namespace: confluent
spec:
  replicas: 1
  image:
    application: confluentinc/cp-enterprise-control-center-next-gen:<c3-tag>
    init: confluentinc/confluent-init-container:3.0.0
  services:
    prometheus:
      image: confluentinc/cp-enterprise-prometheus:<c3-tag>
      pvc:
        dataVolumeCapacity: 10Gi
    alertmanager:
      image: confluentinc/cp-enterprise-alertmanager:<c3-tag>

Deploy Confluent Control Center¶

After you configure Control Center and specify the image name and tag, apply the ControlCenter CR:
```
kubectl apply -f <CR>
```

Check that the Control Center pod is successfully deployed. For example:

kubectl get pod controlcenter-next-gen-0 -n confluent \
  -o jsonpath="{range .status.containerStatuses[*]}{.name}:{.state.*.reason}{'\n'}{end}"

Use local port forwarding to load Control Center at localhost:9021:

kubectl port-forward pod/{pod-name} 9021:9021 -n <namespace>

Validate deployment¶

After you set up your Confluent Platform environment, validate the deployment, starting with the following list:

Pods are running and healthy
Services are deployed
Control Center is accessible and monitors Kafka and other components
Client can create topics

Refer to the Confluent for Kubernetes example Git Hub repo for sample steps to validate a basic deployment. You can also review the other scenarios for validating various deployment configurations, such as with various external access methods and security setups.