One of the emerging trends we’ve observed in the data architecture space is the growing interest in Apache Pulsar. In this post, we’ll cover why companies are migrating to Pulsar, the importance of zero downtime migration, and how we ensure a seamless transition to Pulsar.

Why Migrate to Apache Pulsar?

Apache Pulsar has been making waves in the messaging world, and for good reason. While Kafka has been the standard for many large enterprises, Pulsar offers several compelling advantages:

Multi-Tenancy: Pulsar was designed from the ground up to support multi-tenancy, allowing different organizations or teams to share the same Pulsar cluster with strong isolation guarantees. This is particularly beneficial for large enterprises with multiple departments or teams needing distinct messaging environments.

Geo-Replication: Pulsar’s built-in geo-replication feature ensures data is available across multiple data centers or cloud regions, enhancing disaster recovery and ensuring data locality.

Scalability: Pulsar’s topic-centric storage architecture allows for true topic-level data retention and scaling. This means that as your data needs grow, Pulsar can easily accommodate without significant reconfiguration.

Check out this detailed review of how to compare Kafka vs Pulsar for your use case for more information.

Where Does Pulsar Excel? 

Several scenarios make Pulsar the best choice for messaging:

IoT Data Streaming: With the explosion of IoT devices, companies need a messaging system that can handle ever expanding amounts of data from disparate sources. Pulsar’s ability to manage millions of topics makes it ideal for IoT use cases.

Real-time Analytics: For businesses that rely on real-time data analytics, Pulsar’s low latency and high throughput ensure that data scientists and analysts have access to data in near real-time.

Hybrid Cloud Deployments: For enterprises operating in a hybrid cloud environment, Pulsar’s geo-replication ensures seamless data flow between on-premises and cloud infrastructures.

We have an entire post on Pulsar use cases.  Check it out for more examples.

Why Zero Downtime Migration to Pulsar Matters

Downtime is more than just an inconvenience; it’s a significant business risk. For many companies, even a few minutes of downtime can result in substantial financial losses, and potential damage to reputation and customer trust. 

Zero downtime is not just a nice-to-have; it’s a necessity. This is especially true when migrating critical systems like messaging platforms, where data integrity and availability are paramount.

Achieving Zero Downtime Migration to Apache Pulsar

So, how do we ensure a smooth transition to Pulsar with zero downtime? While each migration can have its unique requirements, here is our general approach:

Dual Writing: If migrating from another Pulsar cluster, we can set up replication of messages and cursor positions from the original to the new Pulsar cluster. If migrating from another messaging application, we can set up an intermediary application that copies all messages from the original messaging application to Pulsar.  This approach ensures that even as we transition, there’s no loss of data.

Incremental Migration: Instead of a wholesale switch, we migrate topics incrementally. This phased approach allows us to monitor and address any issues that arise during the migration process without affecting the entire system.

Thorough Testing: Before fully switching over to Pulsar, we conduct extensive testing in a testing environment. This method makes certain that when the switch happens, it’s seamless and without surprises.

Expertise and Support: Our team of experts is with you every step of the way through the preparation, migration, and ongoing management.  We monitor Pulsar 24×7 to catch any emerging issues early before they become problems in production. 

As your trusted partner, we’re here to ensure that your migration to Pulsar is seamless, efficient, and sets your business up for future success.