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Use Case
Type: Event Streaming / Data Pipeline Stack
Typical Use Case: Real-time event streaming, message queuing, log aggregation, CDC pipelines
Famous Usage: LinkedIn activity streams, Uber trip events, Netflix recommendations

📨 Kafka Stack

Kafka · Zookeeper · Schema Registry

K

Kafka

Distributed Event Streaming Platform
  • Topics partition messages across brokers for scalability
  • Producers publish, consumers subscribe with consumer groups
  • Durability with replication, retention policies, compaction
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Z

Zookeeper

Coordination & Cluster Management
  • Manages broker metadata, topic configs, partition leadership
  • Leader election, health checks, cluster state coordination
  • Note: Kafka 3.x+ can run KRaft mode (Zookeeper-less)
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SR

Schema Registry

Schema Management & Evolution
  • Stores Avro, Protobuf, JSON schemas for data contracts
  • Schema evolution with compatibility checks (backward, forward)
  • Centralized versioning for producers/consumers to stay aligned
Flow: Kafka brokers stream events → Zookeeper coordinates cluster → Schema Registry enforces data contracts for producers/consumers.