How are Kafka message logs stored?

8 months ago

Jackson Davis

2 minutes

Kafka message logs are stored in partitioned topics within a Kafka cluster. Each topic can have one or more partitions, with each partition consisting of multiple log segments. Each message is appended to the current log segment of a partition, and when the log segment reaches a certain size (determined by configuration parameters) or a certain time (determined by configuration parameters), it will be closed and a new log segment will be created. This creates a continuous message log.

Kafka ensures the reliability and scalability of messages through partitioning and replication mechanisms. Each partition can have multiple replicas distributed across different Broker nodes. When a message is written to the Leader replica of a partition, the Leader replica will replicate the message to other replicas to ensure backup and reliability. If the Leader replica fails, Kafka will elect a new Leader replica to continue serving.

In general, Kafka’s storage method for message logs ensures reliability, scalability, and high performance. With the mechanism of partitioning and replication, Kafka can handle large-scale message streams and provide high throughput and low-latency message transmission.