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Data Lifecycle · medium

5. Retention, Compaction, and Schema Evolution

Managing log history and changing event formats safely.

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Kafka retention can be time-based, size-based, or log-compacted. Compaction keeps the latest record for each key and is useful for rebuilding current state, while ordinary retention preserves a time window of events for replay.

Event schemas should evolve compatibly. Add optional fields with defaults before removing old fields, and use a registry or explicit versioning so producers and consumers can roll out independently.

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  1. 1. What does log compaction keep for a key?

  2. 2. Why add optional event fields before removing old ones?

  3. 3. Which retention choice supports replaying the last seven days of events?

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