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Mapagam

Managing Cluster Operations

1. Adding Brokers to Cluster

Step Description Detail
Unique ID New node.id Distinct
Start Joins cluster No partitions yet
Reassign Move partitions to it Rebalance

Example: New broker config

node.id=4
controller.quorum.voters=1@c1:9093,2@c2:9093,3@c3:9093

2. Removing Brokers from Cluster

Step Description Detail
Drain Move partitions off Reassign first
Verify No leaders remain Check
Shutdown Stop broker Safe

Example: Reassign off broker 4

kafka-reassign-partitions.sh --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 \
  --reassignment-json-file drain-broker4.json --execute

3. Expanding Cluster

Aspect Description Detail
Add Capacity More brokers Horizontal
Rebalance Spread existing data Even load
Throttle Limit move bandwidth No disruption

Example: Throttled reassignment

kafka-reassign-partitions.sh --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 \
  --reassignment-json-file plan.json --execute --throttle 50000000

4. Balancing Partition Load

Aspect Description Detail
Generate Plan --generate proposes Even spread
Cruise Control Auto-balancing tool Continuous
Preferred Leader Restore leadership balance Election

Example: Generate balance plan

kafka-reassign-partitions.sh --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 \
  --topics-to-move-json-file topics.json \
  --broker-list "1,2,3,4" --generate

5. Rolling Restart

Step Description Detail
One at a Time Restart sequentially Availability
Wait URP=0 Before next broker Safe
controlled.shutdown Graceful leader move Default on

Example: Wait for URP=0

# Restart broker, then verify before continuing
kafka-topics.sh --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 \
  --describe --under-replicated-partitions

6. Upgrading Kafka Version

Step Description Detail
Rolling One broker at a time No downtime
inter.broker.
protocol.version		 Pin during upgrade Compat
Bump After Raise version last Finalize

Example: Pin protocol version

inter.broker.protocol.version=3.8
# After all brokers upgraded, set to 3.9 and restart

7. Migrating to KRaft Mode

Step Description Detail
Deploy Controllers KRaft quorum Migration mode
Dual-Write ZK + KRaft Transition
Finalize Drop ZK KRaft-only
Warning: Migrate to KRaft on 3.x before upgrading to 4.0, which removes ZooKeeper entirely.

Example: Migration flag

zookeeper.metadata.migration.enable=true

8. Handling Broker Failures

Aspect Description Detail
Auto Failover ISR replica promoted No data loss
Recovery Restart, catch up Rejoin ISR
Replacement New broker + reassign Permanent loss

Example: Check leadership after failure

kafka-topics.sh --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 \
  --describe --under-replicated-partitions

9. Managing Disk Space

Aspect Description Detail
Retention Reduce to free space time/bytes
Add Disk Extra log.dirs Capacity
Delete Records Truncate old data deleteRecords

Example: Shrink retention

kafka-configs.sh --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --alter \
  --entity-type topics --entity-name bulky \
  --add-config retention.ms=43200000

10. Configuring Rack Awareness

Config Description Detail
broker.rack AZ/rack identifier Per broker
Spread Replicas across racks Fault isolation
Rack-Aware Fetch Consume from local replica client.rack

Example: Set broker rack

broker.rack=us-east-1a

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