Create an Inkless Kafka service

Create an Inkless Apache Kafka® service on Aiven Cloud or using Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC). Inkless runs Kafka 4.x and supports both classic and diskless topics.

Prerequisites

• Access to the Aiven Console
• An Aiven project where you can create Kafka services

Create an Inkless service on Aiven Cloud

Inkless services are available on the Professional tier. On Aiven Cloud, configure the service by selecting ingress capacity and retention.

Console

1. In the Aiven Console, open the project and select Services.
2. Click Create service.
3. Select Apache Kafka®.
4. In Service tier, select Professional.
5. In Cluster type, select Inkless.
6. In Deployment mode, select Aiven cloud.
7. Select a cloud provider and region.
8. Select the Ingress capacity for the service.
9. Optional: Enable Diskless topics, if available. They are not suitable for smaller workloads.
10. Select a Retention period.
11. In Service basics, enter:
    • Name: Enter a name for the service. You cannot change the service name after creation.
    • Tags: Optional. Add resource tags to organize your services.
12. Review the Service summary, and click Create service.

CLI

note

Inkless on Aiven Cloud uses throughput-based offerings rather than fixed plans. The Aiven CLI does not list these offerings. Create Inkless services on Aiven Cloud using the Aiven Console.

Create an Inkless service on Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC)

You can run Inkless Kafka clusters in your own cloud account using Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC). Inkless clusters support classic and diskless topics.

Before creating services on BYOC, configure a BYOC environment. For instructions, see Create a custom cloud (BYOC).

Console

1. In the Aiven Console, open the project and select Services.
2. Click Create service.
3. Select Apache Kafka®.
4. In Service tier, select Professional.
5. In Cluster type, select Inkless.
6. In Deployment mode, select Bring your own cloud (BYOC).
7. In Cloud, select your BYOC environment and region.
8. Select a plan.
9. In Service basics, enter:
   • Name: Enter a name for the service. You cannot change the name after creation.
   • Tags: Optional. Add resource tags to organize your services.
10. Review the Service summary, and click Create service.

CLI

Create an Inkless Kafka service in a BYOC environment:

avn service create SERVICE_NAME \
  --project PROJECT_NAME \
  --service-type kafka \
  --cloud CUSTOM_CLOUD_REGION \
  --plan INKLESS_PLAN \
  -c kafka_version=4.0 \
  -c inkless.enabled=true

To enable diskless topics, add the following option:

-c kafka_diskless.enabled=true

Parameters:

• SERVICE_NAME: Name of the Kafka service.
• PROJECT_NAME: Aiven project name.
• CUSTOM_CLOUD_REGION: BYOC region, such as custom-aws-eu-central-1.
• INKLESS_PLAN: Inkless-capable plan for the selected BYOC environment.

To list available Inkless-capable plans for a BYOC environment and region:

avn service plans --service-type kafka --cloud CUSTOM_CLOUD_REGION

note

Diskless topics require kafka_diskless.enabled=true. The selected plan must support diskless topics.

Topic defaults

• Classic topics:
  • Remote storage is enabled automatically when you create a classic topic.
  • Local retention settings are enforced by the service and cannot be changed.
• Diskless topics: Available only if enabled when creating the service.

Related pages

• Create a Kafka topic
• Diskless topics overview
• Generate sample data