1. What is Apache Kafka?

    • Explanation: Apache Kafka is a distributed streaming platform that is designed to handle large volumes of real-time data efficiently.

  2. Explain the key components of Kafka architecture.

    • Explanation: Key components include Producers, Consumers, Brokers, Zookeeper, Topics, Partitions, and Offsets.

  3. What is the role of Zookeeper in Kafka?

    • Explanation: Zookeeper is used in Kafka for distributed coordination and to manage the configuration information of Kafka brokers.

  4. What is a Topic in Kafka?

    • Explanation: A Topic is a category or feed name to which records are published by Producers and from which records are consumed by Consumers.

  5. What is a Consumer Group in Kafka?

    • Explanation: A Consumer Group is a group of Consumers that jointly consume a set of Topics. Each Consumer in a group processes a subset of the partitions.

  6. Explain Kafka Partitioning.

    • Explanation: Partitioning is the way Kafka ensures scalability and parallelism by breaking down Topics into smaller, more manageable pieces called partitions.

  7. What is the significance of Replication in Kafka?

    • Explanation: Replication ensures fault tolerance and high availability by maintaining multiple copies (replicas) of each partition across different brokers.

  8. How does Kafka guarantee message ordering within a partition?

    • Explanation: Kafka guarantees message ordering within a partition because each partition is assigned to a single consumer at a time, ensuring that messages are consumed in order.

  9. What is the purpose of a Kafka Producer?

    • Explanation: A Kafka Producer is responsible for publishing records (messages) to Kafka Topics. It sends records to the appropriate partition according to the specified partitioning strategy.

  10. How does Kafka handle data retention?

    • Explanation: Kafka allows the configuration of data retention policies for Topics, specifying the duration for which messages are retained. Older messages beyond the retention period are deleted.

These questions cover various aspects of Kafka and are commonly used to assess a candidate's understanding of the platform. Make sure to understand the fundamental concepts, architecture, and usage scenarios when preparing for a Kafka interview.