Amazon S3 is a standout storage service known for its ease of use, power, and affordability. When combined with Apache Kafka, a popular streaming platform, it can significantly reduce costs and enhance service levels. In this post, we’ll explore various ways S3 is put to work in streaming data platforms.

Navigating the intricacies of Apache Kafka just got a lot more intuitive. With Lenses 5.3 we bring you peace of mind, regardless of where you are in your Kafka journey. Our newest release is all about smoothing out the bumps, and making sure you're equipped to handle Kafka's challenges with confidence. Here's a sprinkle of what's in store, ahead of our big 6.0 release later this year.

We like to reduce the most mundane, complex and time-consuming work associated with managing a Kafka platform. One such task is backing up topic data. With a growing reliance on Kafka for various workloads, having a solid backup strategy is not just a nice-to-have, but a necessity. If you haven’t backed up your Kafka and you live in fear of disaster striking, worry no more.

An effective data platform thrives on solid data integration, and for Kafka, S3 data flows are paramount. Data engineers often grapple with diverse data requests related to S3. Enter Lenses. By partnering with major enterprises, we've levelled up our S3 connector, making it the market's leading choice. We've also incorporated it into our Lenses 5.3 release, boosting Kafka topic backup/restore.

One of the most important questions in architecting a data platform is where to store and archive data. In a blog series, we’ll cover the different storage strategies for Kafka and introduce you to Lenses’ S3 Connector for backup/restore. But in this first blog, we must introduce the different Cloud storage options available. Later blogs will focus on specific solutions, explain in more depth how this maps to Kafka and then how Lenses manage your Kafka topic backups.