Strimzi 1.1.0 focuses on modernizing Kubernetes integrations and supporting the latest Kafka versions. Key highlights include the mandatory move to CRD v1, support for Kafka 4.3.0, and the introduction of Gateway API support. This release also streamlines security workflows by adopting PEM files for Bridge/MirrorMaker2 and offering more granular certificate controls.

Support for Apache Kafka 4.3.0 and 4.2.1 — Keep your Kafka infrastructure current with the latest upstream features and security patches while removing older, unsupported versions.

Mandatory migration to CRD v1 API — CRD v1 is now mandatory. Users MUST convert their Custom Resources (Kafka, KafkaTopic, etc.) to v1 before upgrading to avoid operator failure or resource deletion.

Gateway API support for TLS listeners — Enables modern Kubernetes networking patterns by allowing Kafka listeners to be exposed via the Kubernetes Gateway API using TLS routes.

Native PEM and Secret Provider support for Bridge and MM2 — Simplifies secret management for Bridge and MirrorMaker2 users by using standard PEM files and native Kubernetes secret providers instead of legacy Java KeyStores.

Alpha support for background Pod deletion during rolling updates — Reduces rolling update latency by allowing the operator to delete pods in the background, minimizing the time the operator spends waiting for synchronous deletions.