Maintaining constant contact with different branches of business can be helpful for companies. Businesses require such systems to help stay in touch with their employees in the hope of keeping their companies running well. One messaging platform that these industries can use includes Apache Kafka.
This Kafka platform is one of the better-known messaging systems in the computer software industry. We’ll focus on what Apache Kafka is and for what it is used.
Apache Kafka Defined
Many businesses have utilized messaging platforms for their everyday tasks. Before digging deeper into how Apache Kafka can be utilized, it helps to define exactly what it is. This platform is an open-source distribution publish-subscribe-based messaging system. Also known as Kafka Connect, Apache Kafka has been purpose-built to handle streaming data. This is all done in the hopes of allowing for pipelining, distributed streaming, and the replay of data feeds. The hope is that this results in quick and scalable operations.
This streaming engine can help to collect, cache, and process real-time data at high volumes. Helping to do so much with a massive amount of data is one of the rewards of Apache Kafka. Many companies, such as data science software industry leader TIBCO, can utilize this message system to provide such real-time data streams to multiple sources. Kafka acts as a broker-based solution, to begin with. This solution operates through maintaining data streams as records with clusters of servers.
The important thing about Kafka servers is that they can span multiple data centers and provide data persistence. This is done by acting as a connector for stored streams of records (messages) throughout multiple server instances. Once this happens, a topic then stores messages through tuples. Having an idea of what Apache Kafka is helps to prepare us for determining for what the message system is used.
Data Distribution & Data Storage
Two of the uses of Apache Kafka include data distribution and data storage. This message system helps with both microservices in a productive way. With data distribution, the Kafka streams help to provide a publish/subscribe messaging model for this type of allocation to occur. Apache Kafka doesn’t have the ability to give many of the added features that other messaging systems provide. This is regarding the transactionality of the Kafka method or different distribution models.
With Apache Kafka, the onus is on providing the best data distribution that focuses on a publish/subscribe model. This Kafka cluster can help to support stream processing. Another use for Apache Kafka includes its data storage functions. Kafka is developed to allow for long-term data storage. The hope is that this data can be accessed and replayed whenever needed. Through being designed as a ground-up system, Kafka can provide even long-term data storage.
The wonderful thing about Apache Kafka is that it can handle such data storage matters as data persistence, fault tolerance, and replay through unique methods. As Kafka handles data replication in its cluster, it can also deal with scalability by allowing the sharing of data across partitions. Data distribution and data storage are but two of many uses of the Kafka platform.
Communications Layer
Apache Kafka can also be used for the communications layer. This means that the message system helps to support the ability to access data in real time. It also helps to provide real-time stream processing. The system is a natural selection for helping real-time processing applications. Apache Kafka can be used for applications that use a communications infrastructure. They are then used to help distribute high volumes of data in real time. The communications layer is yet another use of Apache Kafka.