What are Kafka consumer groups?

What are Kafka consumer groups and how do they work?

Kafka consumer groups are a way to manage multiple consumers that read from the same topic. Each consumer in a group reads from a unique partition, allowing for parallel processing.

Why would I want to use consumer groups instead of individual consumers?

Using consumer groups allows for load balancing and fault tolerance. If one consumer fails, others in the group can take over its partitions.

How do I create a consumer group in Kafka?

You create a consumer group by specifying a group ID when you configure your consumer. Kafka will manage the group automatically.

Can I have multiple consumer groups for the same topic?

Yes, you can have multiple consumer groups for the same topic, and each group will independently consume messages.