What is Apache Kafka | How to run it on Windows

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What is Apache Kafka?

Apache Kafka® is open-source software that provides a forum for event streaming, or we may say in simple words that it is open-source software that provides a datum processes system for reading, storing, and streaming.

It is designed to be run in a “distributed” environment, as a result, rather than sitting on one user’s computer, it runs across several (or many) servers, leveraging the additional processing power and storage capacity that this brings.

It is so fast because it supports a high-throughput, highly distributed, fault-tolerant platform with low-latency delivery of messages with the help of these couple of techniques:
* Low Latency Message Delivery.
* Batch Data and Compression.
* Horizontally Scaling.

It has a large network of users and developers in the world who offered support for new users and contribute towards updates, new features.
And also It is gaining huge popularity in Big Data spaces. A lot of companies are demanding Kafka professionals having strong skills and practical knowledge.

How to run Apache Kafka server on Windows?

Before running these steps which are mention below please install the Kafka in your System => https://kafka.apache.org/downloads

Steps to run the Kafka server on windows:

Step 1- Copy the path of the Kafka folder. Now go to config inside kafka folder and open zookeeper.properties file. Copy the path against the field dataDir and add /zookeeper-data to the path.

For example if the path is c:/kafka

Step 2- Now in the same folder config open server.properties and scroll down to log.dirs and paste the path. To the path add /kafka-logs

Step 3- This completes the configuration of the zookeeper and Kafka server. Now open the command prompt and change the directory to the Kafka folder. First start zookeeper using the command given below:

.\bin\windows\zookeeper-server-start.bat .\config\zookeeper.properties

Step 4- Now open another command prompt and change the directory to the kafka folder. Run kafka server using the command:

.\bin\windows\kafka-server-start.bat .\config\server.properties

Now Kafka is running and ready to stream data.