Databricks provides robust integration with Apache Kafka, enabling seamless streaming and batch processing of data from Kafka topics.

Key Features and Benefits:

• Simplified Ingestion: Databricks quickly ingest data from Kafka into the Lakehouse Platform for further processing and analysis.
• Structured Streaming:  Leverage Apache Spark’s Structured Streaming to process Kafka data in real-time, enabling low-latency streaming analytics and applications.
• Delta Lake Integration: Store streaming data from Kafka directly into Delta Lake tables, benefiting from ACID transactions, schema enforcement, and efficient upserts.
• SQL Support: Read Kafka data directly using SQL queries within Databricks, making it accessible to a broader range of users.
• Scalability: Databricks’ distributed architecture allows you to scale your Kafka processing workloads to handle large volumes of data.
• Delta Live Tables (DLT): Build reliable streaming ETL pipelines with DLT, automatically managing infrastructure and ensuring data quality.

How to Use Databricks with Kafka:

1. Configure Kafka Connection: Within Databricks, set up the connection details (bootstrap servers, topic names, etc.) to your Kafka cluster.
2. Read Kafka Data: To read data from Kafka topics, use Spark Structured Streaming or the read_kafka SQL function.
3. Process and Transform: Apply Spark transformations to the Kafka data stream to clean, aggregate, or enrich it.
4. Write to Delta Lake (Optional): Store the processed data in Delta Lake tables for further analysis and reporting.
5. Build Streaming Pipelines (Optional): Use Delta Live Tables to create declarative streaming ETL pipelines that ingest data from Kafka and transform it into Delta Lake tables.

Resources:

• Stream Processing with Apache Kafka and Databricks: https://docs.databricks.com/en/connect/streaming/kafka.html
• Delta Live Tables with Apache Kafka: https://www.databricks.com/resources/demos/videos/data-engineering/delta-live-tables-with-apache-kafka
• Get data into Databricks from Kafka: https://www.databricks.com/resources/demos/videos/ingestion/get-data-into-databricks-from-kafka.