What’s New in Apache Kafka 2.7.0

The announcement of the Apache Kafka 2.7.0 release highlights significant updates, including progress toward replacing ZooKeeper with KIP-497, which introduces a new inter-broker API for altering in-sync replicas, and the implementation of the Core Raft protocol under KIP-595. This release also addresses various enhancements, such as infinite scaling through Tiered Storage via KIP-405, support for Privacy-Enhanced Mail (PEM) format with KIP-651, and new metrics for Kafka Streams, including end-to-end latency exposure. Additionally, KIP-662 introduces error handling improvements for Kafka Streams applications, and KIP-617 allows reverse iteration over state stores to efficiently retrieve the latest records. The update is a community-driven effort involving contributions from numerous developers and emphasizes continued efforts to refine Kafka's functionality, security, and scalability.