Is a kafka message part of a log?

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The reason for this question is because I don't think it's clear to a new user that a kafka message is a part of a log. In fact, the idea of a message being in a log sounds pretty confusing but I guess log means something else in kafka.

More importantly, I wanted to configure the retention of these messages see kafka-retention-period question but you'll notice they call it log.retention.hours. Hopefully, that makes it clearer where this confusion comes from.

Have already answered this. Just posting it so others can see on SO. — dtc, Apr 04 '21 at 00:47

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 04 '21 at 00:44

The answer is yes.

Quote from another user: "kafka messages are stored in log segments, so I think the answer is yes"

Also, I've tested the log.retention settings and can confirm that it applies to messages. From what I can tell, messages are just a part of log.

Is a kafka message part of a log?

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