What is our primary use case?
I am using Zilla Plus and have been working with it for the past few months, mainly around MSK serverless and connectivity and secure across VPC access use cases.
One of my main use cases that I have explored is using Zilla Plus to securely connect an application to Amazon MSK Serverless. For example, in a streaming integration setup, Zilla Plus acts as a Kafka-native proxy to simplify secure connectivity between a client application and MSK without exposing brokers publicly.
What is most valuable?
What I appreciate most in Zilla Plus is that it simplifies secure Kafka connectivity while keeping the architecture scalable and cloud-native. It helps reduce operational complexity compared to managing custom networking.
In my opinion, the best features Zilla Plus offers include secure across VPC, support for REST, SCC, and Kafka protocols together, custom domains, and TLS security supports.
Another feature is the support for multiple protocols, including REST and Kafka through a single gateway layer.
Zilla Plus has helped simplify secure Kafka connectivity and reduce the effort required to manage cross-VPC networking and authentication configuration. I also saw benefits in terms of scalability and reduced infrastructure complexity.
What needs improvement?
Zilla Plus could improve in simplifying the initial setup and onboarding experience, especially for teams that are newer to Kafka and MSK serverless architecture and configuration templates.
I monitor dashboards and more out-of-the-box analytic traffic visibility and performance insights would also add value for operational teams.
Another improvement that would be valuable is deeper support for deployment and configuration, especially for multi-environment setup.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working in my current field for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In my experience, Zilla Plus has been stable for the use cases I explored, including secure Kafka connectivity and communication with Amazon MSK serverless. The architecture handled workloads reliably and integrated well within a cloud-native AWS environment.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
One noticeable improvement was the reduction in time spent managing and troubleshooting across VPC Kafka connectivity. I also observed better scalability in handling streaming traffic because the architecture was more lightweight and cloud-native, which reduced operational complexity and improved overall reliability.
Zilla Plus in my experience has scaled well for cloud-native streaming workloads. Its lightweight and stateless architecture make it easier to handle increased Kafka traffic and multiple client connections without adding significant operational complexity.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support has been good overall from my experience. The team was responsive during setup and integration-related queries, especially around MSK connectivity and configuration guidance.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before exploring Zilla Plus, the setup relied more on custom networking, configuration, and direct Kafka connectivity management and manual handling of access patterns across the environment. The switch to Zilla Plus was mainly driven by the need for a more secure, scalable, and easier-to-manage solution for cross-VPC Kafka access with authentication. It reduced the operational complexity and simplified integration management compared to maintaining a custom configuration.
I looked at a few alternative approaches before exploring Zilla Plus, including native Kafka networking setups, such as AWS PrivateLink based on custom implementation and other API gateway solutions commonly used for secure Kafka connectivity.
How was the initial setup?
Access through the AWS Marketplace made deployment and integration with existing AWS services more streamlined and convenient for the team.
What was our ROI?
I saw a measurable operational benefit after using Zilla Plus. For example, reduced time spent on networking, faster onboarding for a new integration environment, lower operational costs, and improved scalability and reliability for real-time data streaming workloads without significantly increasing infrastructure complexity.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The setup cost was reasonable compared to the operational benefits. It provides secure Kafka connectivity and cross-VPC access, so I can work with enterprises natively, especially considering the reduction in custom infrastructure and maintenance effort, with clear pricing that is more flexible for smaller teams.
What other advice do I have?
My advice would be to clearly define your Kafka connectivity and secure and scalable requirements before implementation. Zilla Plus is valuable for teams looking to simplify secure Kafka access with IAM authentication while reducing custom networking complexity. I also recommend investing some time in understanding the architecture deployment patterns early on so that it makes the setup and long-term management much smoother.
Overall, Zilla Plus stands out as a strong solution for secure and scalable Kafka connectivity in cloud-native environments, especially for AWS MSK serverless use cases. I appreciate the focus on security, such as IAM integration and simplified cross-VPC access, and I am excited to see how the platform continues to evolve with improved deployment automation features. I would rate this solution an 8 overall.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)