Apache Pulsar and Apache Kafka share a similar data model around logs. This makes it possible to implement a Kafka-compatible protocol handler so that Kafka users can migrate existing Kafka applications and services to Pulsar without modifying the code. It also allows these applications to leverage various Pulsar features such as multi-tenancy, infinite event stream retention, and serverless event processing. This is where the open-source project Kafka-on-Pulsar (KoP) comes in.

Why Did the Community Develop KoP?

To begin, I think it is important to answer a key question: “Why did you develop it?” As a maintainer of the KoP project, I notice that this is usually the first thing that comes to mind for a new community member. To answer this question, let’s have a quick look at the basics of Pulsar and Kafka.