First Topic and CLI Basics

Create a Topic

bin/kafka-topics.sh --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 
  --create --topic orders --partitions 3 --replication-factor 1

List and Describe

bin/kafka-topics.sh --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --list
bin/kafka-topics.sh --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --describe --topic orders

Describe shows partitions, leaders, replicas and ISR - the cluster health picture for one topic.

Produce and Consume

Shell A (producer):

bin/kafka-console-producer.sh --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --topic orders
> order-1001
> order-1002

Shell B (consumer):

bin/kafka-console-consumer.sh --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --topic orders 
  --from-beginning

Records typed in the producer print out in the consumer almost instantly.

Delete a Topic

bin/kafka-topics.sh --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --delete --topic orders

Key Points

• kafka-topics creates and inspects topics.
• Partitions/replication factor are set at creation.
• Console producer/consumer demonstrate the loop.
• --from-beginning replays the whole history.