Kafka Backup & Restore
In Event-Driven Architecture, event data is critical. Since standard replication is not a backup for Kafka, you need a reliable Kafka backup solution to fix human errors, configuration mistakes, or malicious attacks.
For effective Apache Kafka backup and restore, you need to capture your event data to external storage so you can recover it after a catastrophic event, human error, or ransomware attack.
Kannika Armory operates as a dedicated Apache Kafka backup solution, giving you full control over the restore process for specific datasets. This setup delivers continuous data resilience and business continuity without requiring any custom code.
SVA, one of the largest Confluent partners in EMEA, chose Kannika Armory to protect their Kafka environment.
How to use Kannika Armory
Protect critical schemas
Accidental schema deletions break downstream consumers. Kannika Armory restores your missing schemas directly so your applications can keep running.
Fix retention mistakes
A misconfigured retention setting can wipe out event data before your applications process it. Use Kannika to recover that expired data from your backup for new use cases.
Revert policy changes
When someone accidentally lowers the retention policy on a production topic, your data disappears. Armory holds a continuous backup so you can bring that topic back to its original state.
Recover deleted topics
What happens when an engineer runs the wrong script on production or a bad actor wipes a critical topic? With Kannika, you can restore the missing topics from your decoupled backup and resume operations quickly.
Reduce storage costs
You don't need to pay for endless data retention on your primary event hub. Because Armory maintains a compressed backup on cold storage, you can safely lower your retention times.
Features
Explore all Kannika Armory product features to see how we protect your event streams.
Flexible control options
Manage your Kafka backups through a GUI, a REST API, or Kubernetes CRDs. You can integrate the tool directly into your current engineering workflows.
Fast backup and recovery
Configure Kafka backup and restore for your clusters in minutes. When an incident occurs, you can quickly restore specific topics or datasets to minimize downtime.
Supports all major event hubs
Kannika Armory natively supports Apache Kafka, Confluent Cloud, Amazon MSK, Apache Pulsar, Redpanda, and Azure Event Hubs.
Real-time processing, minimal footprint
Capture data continuously without degrading your cluster performance. The platform builds your backup datasets in real time as events happen.
Control and filter the restore process
Define the exact subset of data you need to recover. You stay in full control over the restore process and retrieve only the messages your applications need.
Up to 90% dataset compression
Compress your Kafka backup data down to 10% of its original volume. This reduces long-term storage costs and speeds up data transfers.
Automated schema mapping
Different environments use separate schema registries that assign different IDs to the same schema. Kannika Armory automatically translates schema IDs from source to target during a restore or clone operation. This keeps your messages compatible with the destination cluster without manual adjustments.
Consumer offset mapping
Restored messages receive new Kafka offsets, which forces consumers to reprocess or skip data entirely. Kannika Armory calculates the equivalent offsets in the target cluster and handles your Kafka consumer group offsets automatically, so your consumers can reconnect and continue exactly where they left off.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between replication and backup?
Replication is a high availability strategy that keeps your system running when a server or zone fails, while a backup solves recovery problems. If a bug produces malformed events, replication copies that bad data to every broker. However, with a decoupled backup you can still recover your original data after configuration errors or ransomware attacks. For the full breakdown, see our Kafka backup guide.
How does Kannika Armory handle Kafka consumer group offsets?
Restored messages normally receive new offsets, which forces consumers to skip data or reprocess it. Kannika automates the offset mapping process and calculates the equivalent offsets in the target cluster. This lets your consuming applications reconnect and continue where they left off.
Can I restore just one topic without touching my cluster?
Yes, Kannika Armory lets you control and filter your restore process. You define the exact set of data you want to restore. For example, you can quickly restore a selection of your data as part of a disaster recovery exercise without affecting the rest of your environment.
Does Kannika Armory work with other EDA platforms?
Yes, Kannika Armory supports all major Apache Kafka event hubs. The platform works with Apache Kafka, Confluent Kafka, MSK, Pulsar, Redpanda, Axual and Azure Event Hub. If you're specifically on Confluent, see our Confluent Kafka backup guide for how Armory fits alongside Cluster Linking and Replicator.
Is Kannika Armory available on-premises or cloud-only?
You can deploy Kannika on your own infrastructure, on Kubernetes, or on a virtual machine. Your event-driven data never leaves your environment, and you control the backup storage. Kannika also offers a managed cloud offering where the software runs on a cloud account you provide.
Does Kannika Armory support DORA and NIS2 compliance?
Yes. DORA and NIS2 require a provable backup and recovery capability for critical systems. Kannika Armory satisfies this requirement by storing continuous backups on separate storage that is not reachable from the event hub control plane. The system also generates a complete audit trail of every backup, restore, and configuration change with timestamps. See NIS2, DORA and Apache Kafka for the full regulatory breakdown.
