Kafka for .NET Developers - Ian Cooper - NDC London 2024

Step-by-Step Tutorial on Understanding Kafka for .NET Developers

1. Introduction to Kafka and its Origin:

   • Kafka was created at LinkedIn in 2011 by J. Kreps, N. Narkhede, and J. Jun Rao.
   • It is effectively an append-only log, also known as a commit log.

2. Understanding Kafka's Functionality:

   • Producers write records to a log, while consumers read from the same log.
   • Kafka allows asynchronous communication between producers and consumers.
   • Partitions in Kafka help distribute data across the topic.

3. Setting Up Kafka Locally:

   • Use a Docker Compose file to run Kafka and Zookeeper locally.
   • Understand the configuration options like listeners and advertised listeners.

4. Interacting with Kafka:

   • Use command-line utilities like kafka-topics, console-producer, and console-consumer to interact with Kafka.
   • Consider using tools like kafkacat for a more developer-friendly interaction.

5. Using Kafka Producer in .NET:

   • Create a Kafka producer using a ProducerBuilder with key and value types.
   • Send a message to a topic using producer.Produce() and ensure to flush the producer.

6. Consuming Messages in Kafka with .NET:

   • Create a Kafka consumer to read messages from a topic.
   • Subscribe to the topic and handle messages using a message pump.

7. Ensuring Message Reliability:

   • Configure the producer with settings like retries, max in-flight requests, and batch size.
   • Implement an outbox pattern for reliable message delivery.

8. Understanding Schema Registry:

   • Utilize the Schema Registry for managing schemas and ensuring compatibility.
   • Serialize and deserialize messages using the Schema Registry for schema evolution.

9. Exploring Kafka Connect and KSQL:

   • Learn about Kafka Connect for data integration and KSQL for querying Kafka streams.
   • Consider alternatives like Flink and tools like Benthos for data processing.

10. Conclusion:

• Kafka provides a reliable and scalable messaging platform for .NET developers.
• Experiment with different Kafka features to enhance data processing capabilities.

By following these steps, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of Kafka and its implementation in .NET development.