Kafka Roles & Functions Explained

Kafka is an open-source distributed messaging system primarily used for handling large amounts of real-time data. Its main purposes and functions include the following:

1. Message queue: Kafka can be used as a message queue to pass messages between different applications. Producers send messages to the Kafka cluster, while consumers read messages from it, achieving decoupling and asynchronous communication.
2. Data stream processing: Kafka can be used as a platform for processing data streams, supporting real-time data processing and analysis. Utilizing tools such as Kafka Streams and KSQL, messages can be processed and transformed in a streaming manner.
3. Data storage: Kafka can be utilized as a data storage solution, enabling persistent messaging, data backups, and data recovery. Data can be written to Kafka and periodically backed up to other storage systems.
4. Distributed system integration: Kafka can be integrated with other distributed systems such as Hadoop, Spark, etc., to achieve data transfer and sharing. With Kafka Connect, data can be imported from Kafka to other systems.

In general, Kafka’s main role and function is to achieve high reliability in message delivery, data stream processing, and data storage, while also supporting integration and scalability with other systems. It is a powerful tool that can be used to build real-time data processing and analysis systems.