Docker Image Reference for Confluent Platform

Using Docker images, you can install the entire Confluent Platform or individual components. The Confluent Platform component images are available on Docker Hub. The source files for the images are available in the GitHub repos. From GitHub you can extend and rebuild the images and upload them to your own DockerHub repository. The software required to build these images is covered by the Apache 2 License. To learn more about configuring these images, see Docker Image Configuration Reference for Confluent Platform.

The table below lists the available images and the Confluent software packages that they contain. The images that require the Confluent Enterprise License include proprietary components and must be licensed from Confluent when deployed.

Image guide

The following sections list images by component type. In most cases, the license is noted for each package. For more information about package licenses, see Manage Confluent Platform Licenses.

Base images

These images provide build files for the Confluent Platform images. The license varies by package.

Image Name Packages GitHub Repo
cp-base-lite
  • temurin-17-jre
  • curl
 common-docker
cp-base-new
  • temurin-17-jdk
  • curl
  • openSSL
  • python39
  • additional utilities not listed
 common-docker

Kafka images

The following images contain Apache Kafka®.

  • cp-kafka is the Confluent official Docker image for Kafka and includes the Community Version of Kafka.
  • confluent-local is a Kafka package optimized for local development. This Docker image enables you to quickly start Kafka in KRaft mode with no configuration setup.
  • Note that the Confluent Server image package listed in the next section includes everything in cp-kafka and additional commercial features that are only available as a part of the cp-server package.
Image Name Packages Included (License) GitHub Repo
cp-kafka kafka-images
confluent-local kafka-images

Confluent Server image

Confluent Server is a component of Confluent Platform that includes everything in the cp-kafka package and additional commercial features that are only available as a part of the cp-server package. Following are a few key features included in Confluent Server:

  • Role-based access control (RBAC).
  • Tiered Storage
  • Self-Balancing Clusters

For the full list of Confluent Server features, see Enterprise (Subscription) license.

Image Name Packages Included (License) GitHub Repo
cp-server
  • cp-server (Confluent Enterprise License)
  • cp-security (Confluent Enterprise License)
  • cp-rebalancer (Confluent Enterprise License)
 kafka-images

Schema Registry image

Schema Registry provides a centralized repository for managing and validating schemas for topic message data, and for serialization and deserilazation of the data over the network.

Image Name Packages Included (License) GitHub Repo
cp-schema-registry
  • confluent-schema-registry (Confluent Community License)
  • confluent-telemetry (Confluent Enterprise License)
  • confluent-security (Confluent Enterprise License)
  • confluent-schema-registry-security-plugin (Confluent Enterprise License)
  • confluent-control-center (Confluent Enterprise License)
 schema-registry-images

Connect images

Connect is part of Kafka and is used to integrate external systems with Kafka.

  • cp-server-connect and the cp-server-connect-base images, which pull from cp-server, are identical.
  • cp-kafka-connect and the cp-kafka-connect-base images, which pull from cp-kafka, are also identical.

These images had differences in the past.

All of these images include Control Center, which provides monitoring interceptors for monitoring purposes.

Image Name Packages Included (License) GitHub Repo
cp-kafka-connect and cp-kafka-connect-base
  • confluent-schema-registry (Confluent Community License)
  • confluent-control-center (Confluent Enterprise License)
  • confluent-hub-client (Confluent Enterprise License)
 kafka-images
cp-server-connect and cp-server-connect-base kafka-images

ksqlDB images

ksqlDB enables you to build event streaming applications leveraging your familiarity with relational databases.

The cp-ksqldb-server image contains Confluent monitoring interceptors. The monitoring interceptors enable connectors and SQL queries to collect metrics that can be visualized in Confluent Control Center.

Component Image Name Packages Included (License) GitHub Repo
ksqlDB CLI cp-ksqldb-cli ksql-images
ksqlDB Server cp-ksqldb-server
  • ksqldb-server (Confluent Community License)
  • confluent-telemetry (Confluent Enterprise License)
  • confluent-hub (Confluent Enterprise License)
  • confluent-security (Confluent Enterprise License)
 ksql-images

REST Proxy image

REST Proxy provides a RESTful interface to an Kafka cluster, making it easy to produce and consume messages, view the state of the cluster, and perform administrative actions without using the native Kafka protocol or clients.

The REST Proxy image provides Confluent monitoring interceptors in the confluent-control-center package. The monitoring interceptors enable connectors and SQL queries to collect the metrics that can be visualized in Confluent Control Center.

Image Name Packages Included (License) GitHub Repo
cp-kafka-rest kafka-rest-images

Confluent CLI image

The Confluent CLI (CLI) enables developers to manage both Confluent Cloud and Confluent Platform and is source-available under the Confluent Community License.

Image Name Packages Included (License) GitHub Repo
confluent-cli cli

Control Center image

Control Center is a self-hosted web-based tool for managing and monitoring key components of Confluent Platform.

Image Name Packages Included/License GitHub Repo
cp-enterprise-control-center
  • confluent-control-center (Confluent Enterprise License)
 control-center-images

kcat utility image

kcat is a command-line utility that you can use to test and debug Kafka deployments.

Image Name Packages Included (License) GitHub Repo
cp-kcat kafkacat-images

MQTT Proxy image

MQTT Proxy provides a scalable and lightweight interface that enables MQTT clients to produce messages to Kafka directly, in a Kafka-native way, that avoids redundant replication and increased lag.

Image Name Packages Included (License) GitHub Repo
cp-kafka-mqtt
  • confluent-kafka-mqtt (Confluent Enterprise License)
 kafka-mqtt-images

Replicator images

Replicator enables you to easily and reliably replicate topics from one Kafka cluster to another.

Component Image Name Packages Included (License) GitHub Repo
Replicator cp-enterprise-replicator
  • confluent-kafka-replicator (Confluent Enterprise License)
 kafka-replicator-images
Replicator Executable cp-enterprise-replicator-executable
  • confluent-kafka-replicator (Confluent Enterprise License)
 kafka-replicator-images

ZooKeeper image

Kafka uses ZooKeeper to store persistent cluster metadata and was a critical component of the Confluent Platform deployment. Starting with Kafka 3.4, KRraft is the default for cluster metadata management.

Image Name Packages Included (License) GitHub Repo
cp-zookeeper kafka-images

Confluent Platform image tags

The Confluent Platform Docker images are tagged as follows:

<cp_version>-<image_release_number>-<os_type>.<processor_architecture>

<image_release_number> is incremented when an updated image needs to be uploaded for the same <cp-version>.

For example, for the Confluent Platform 7.8.0 images with RHEL UBI 8 being the only supported and default OS, the available RHEL UBI 8 cp-base-new image tags are:

7.8.0-1-ubi8.amd64
7.8.0.amd64
latest.amd64
7.8.0-1-ubi8
7.8.0
latest
7.8.0-1-ubi8.arm64
7.8.0.arm64
latest.arm64

Linux ARM64 Docker images can be used on Apple macOS with M1.

Additional tags are applied to the image of the default OS type:

  • To identify the image as being the default image for a given release.

    <cp_version>

  • To identify the most recent version of the image of the default OS type.

    latest

For the supported OS types in Confluent Platform 7.8, see Supported Versions for Confluent Docker Images.