Create Confluent Cloud Network on Azure

Each Confluent Cloud network is a virtual network that is provisioned in your Confluent Cloud Azure account.

This network allows inbound connections from the connected network to services in Confluent Cloud. It also allows inbound connections from services in Confluent Cloud that are configured to interact with data in the Confluent Cloud network.

You can create multiple Dedicated Kafka clusters within each Confluent Cloud network.

For details on default service quotas, see Network service quotas.

Requirements and considerations

Review the following requirements and considerations when you set up a Confluent Cloud network.

Region and Availability Zones

Dedicated clusters you create in your Confluent Cloud network inherit the selected Region and Availability Zones.

Confluent Cloud network CIDR blocks for VNet peering

When you set up a Confluent Cloud network for VNet peering, the CIDR blocks you specify must meet the follow requirements.

Private Link networks allocate addresses from existing VNet subnets and do not require an additional CIDR block.

  • The Confluent Cloud network CIDR block must be a /16 CIDR block from one of the following private IP ranges:

  • Do not select CIDR blocks that overlap with the following CIDR blocks that are reserved by Confluent Cloud: 10.253.0.0/16, 10.254.0.0/16, 172.17.0.0/16, 172.30.0.0/16, 172.31.0.0/16

    You cannot use the above CIDRs for peering due to routing conflicts with Confluent services. For example, managed connectors cannot reach the sources or sinks in those IP ranges.

Create a Confluent Cloud network

Follow the procedure below to create a Confluent Cloud network on Azure.

You can host multiple clusters within one Confluent Cloud network`. For details on service quotas, see Networks.

  1. In the Confluent Cloud Console, select an environment for the Confluent Cloud network.

  2. In the Network management tab in the environment, click For dedicated clusters.

  3. Click Add network configuration.

  4. Select Microsoft Azure as the cloud service provider and select the geographic region in Region. Click Continue.

  5. Select the connectivity type: Private Link or VNet Peering.

    If you select VNet Peering, CIDR for Confluent Cloud Network fields will appear.

    • Private Link: Cluster is accessible using Private Link connections.
    • VNet Peering: Cluster is accessible using VNet Peering.
  6. Complete the steps for the connectivity type you selected.

    Important

    After provisioning your new Confluent Cloud network, you cannot change your selected Availability Zone (AZ) IDs or CIDR block size.

    1. Under DNS configuration, select the DNS resolution method.

      Select Private DNS Resolution to resolve the private DNS name of the Confluent Cloud cluster to the private IP address of the cluster.

      If Private DNS Resolution is not selected, the private DNS name of the Confluent Cloud cluster requires public DNS Resolution to resolve the private IP address of the cluster.

      Before you select a DNS resolution option, review the details about DNS resolution in Azure Private Link in DNS resolution options.

    2. Click Continue.

  7. In Network name, specify the name of the connection.

    The name you choose is used to identify your network in the Confluent Cloud Console and when using the Confluent CLI. Choose a meaningful name, but consider including the connection type in the name (for example, azure-australia-east-private-link).

  8. Review your configuration and click Add network configuration.


Typically, it takes up to 15 to 20 minutes to create a Confluent Cloud network.

Next steps

After successfully provisioning the Confluent Cloud network on Azure, you can
add Dedicated Kafka clusters within your Confluent Cloud network.