Confluent Platform 6.1 offers several key features to simplify management tasks for Apache Kafka operators, including Automatic Observer Promotion, which automates the process of promoting observer replicas in case of a datacenter failure, reducing downtime and business disruption. The release also introduces enhancements to Multi-Region Clusters (MRC), allowing for even higher availability for enterprises using Kafka as their central nervous system and data backbone for business-critical applications. Additionally, Confluent Platform 6.1 supports in-place upgrades of ksqlDB production queries, enabling developers to iterate and make improvements to their mission-critical applications without sacrificing availability. The release also expands support for multi-key pull queries in ksqlDB, allowing for more flexible lookups using multiple keys, and integrates Cluster Registry with Confluent Control Center, providing a centralized, consistent, and easy-to-remember cluster naming experience. Furthermore, Confluent Platform 6.1 introduces a Status API that tracks the progress of Self-Balancing Clusters, enabling operators to better control their clusters and ensure healthy operations for mission-critical applications.