Confluent has introduced a new agent-based integration with Datadog for monitoring its Confluent Platform, allowing mutual customers to monitor Confluent alongside their entire IT infrastructure. While the Confluent Control Center remains a robust option for a comprehensive view of the platform, the partnership with Datadog facilitates easier integration across the IT stack. The integration, available from Agent versions v6.19 and v7.19, simplifies the monitoring of Confluent Platform services by pulling in JMX metrics and host-level system metrics. Users can customize the default dashboard provided by the integration to suit their business needs. The blog also highlights the complementary value of using Datadog with Control Center for resolving issues like failed tasks and anomalies in ksqlDB queries. Additionally, Confluent Platform 7.9 introduces new features such as the Oracle XStream CDC Connector and Client-Side Field Level Encryption, enhancing its functionality.