What is a Pull model in the context of message brokers?

Pull model in the context of message brokers is a method of receiving messages where the consumer independently requests ("pulls") messages from the broker when ready to process them.

Main features:

• The consumer controls the rate of message retrieval, which helps prevent overload.
• The broker stores messages until the consumer requests them.
• Suitable for systems where the consumer is not always ready to process or when load control needs to be implemented.

The opposite is the Push model, where the broker sends messages to the consumer immediately after they arrive.

Example: In Apache Kafka, consumers typically use the pull model, requesting messages from topics by offsets.