What is the purpose of Kafka system and in which scenarios is it used?

Apache Kafka is a distributed data streaming platform used for publishing, storing, and processing large streams of messages in real-time.

Main purposes of Kafka:

• To provide a high-performance, scalable, and fault-tolerant messaging system.
• To enable applications to exchange data asynchronously through topics.
• To store messages for a certain period, allowing consumers to read them at different speeds.

Use cases of Kafka:

• Collecting and processing logs and metrics in real-time.
• Integrating microservices through message exchange.
• Building event processing and analytics systems.
• Implementing high-throughput message queues.

Example: In an online store, Kafka can be used to transmit order information from the frontend to payment processing and inventory systems, ensuring reliable and scalable communication between services.