HTTP and REST APIs with Apache Kafka - Use Cases and Architectures

This post details the use cases and architectures of REST APIs and the Confluent REST Proxy for interacting with Apache Kafka. It categorizes use cases into management plane (cluster configuration, CI/CD) and data plane (mobile apps, legacy integration, API gateways, other programming languages). It highlights the benefits of REST APIs for Kafka integration, including familiarity, security (easier firewall traversal), and alignment with Domain-Driven Design. The post differentiates between the data plane (decoupled REST Proxy instances for scalability) and management plane (embedded REST APIs in Confluent Server/Cloud). It also emphasizes the role of Confluent Schema Registry for data governance and schema enforcement with REST services, supporting Avro, Protobuf, and JSON Schema.