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// assembly-overview.adoc

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= Configuring custom resources

[role="_abstract"]
Use custom resources to configure your Strimzi deployment.

You can use custom resources to configure and create instances of the following components:

* Kafka clusters
* Kafka Connect clusters
* Kafka MirrorMaker
* Kafka Bridge
* Cruise Control

You can also use custom resource configuration to manage your instances or modify your deployment to introduce additional features.
This might include configuration that supports the following:

* Securing client access to Kafka brokers
* Accessing Kafka brokers from outside the cluster
* Creating topics
* Creating users (clients)
* Controlling feature gates
* Changing logging frequency
* Allocating resource limits and requests
* Introducing features, such as Strimzi Drain Cleaner, Cruise Control, or distributed tracing.

The xref:api_reference-str[Custom resource API reference] describes the properties you can use in your configuration.
