Title: Download and Install Apache Kafka on Ubuntu: A Step-by-Step Guide

Introduction

Apache Kafka is a powerful, highly scalable, distributed streaming platform. It’s ideal for handling real-time data feeds, building data pipelines, and creating applications that react to events as they happen. Kafka is an excellent tool if you’re working with data-intensive projects on Ubuntu.

Prerequisites

• An Ubuntu system (this guide works well for Ubuntu 20.04 or newer versions)
• Java JDK (Version 8 or later)
• A user account with sudo privileges
• Basic command-line familiarity

Steps to download and install

1. Install Java
2. Since Kafka is written in Java, you’ll need it as a dependency. Check if you have Java installed:
3. Bash
4. java -version
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7. If not installed, install it using the following command:
8. Bash
9. sudo apt update
10. sudo apt install default-jdk
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13. Create a Kafka User
14. For security purposes, it’s best to create a dedicated user for running Kafka:
15. Bash
16. sudo adduser Kafka
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18. Download Apache Kafka

• • Navigate to the Apache Kafka downloads page: 
  • Select the latest stable version of Kafka in the “Binary Downloads” section. Make sure to choose a release that aligns with your Scala version.
  • Copy the download link for your chosen version.
• Use curl or wget to download the Kafka binaries:
• Bash
• curl -O https://downloads.apache.org/kafka/<version>/kafka_<scala_version>-<version>.tgz
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  • (Replace <version> and <scala_version> with the actual values).

1. Extract the Archive
2. Bash
3. tar -xzvf kafka_<scala_version>-<version>.tgz
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6. Move Kafka to the Installation Location
7. It’s common practice to install Kafka in the /opt directory:
8. Bash
9. sudo mv kafka_<scala_version>-<version> /opt/kafka
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12. Configure the Kafka Server (Optional)

• The default configuration will work to get started. To edit Kafka’s server properties, navigate to:
  • /opt/kafka/config/server.properties

1. Set Up Systemd Unit Files (Optional, but recommended)

• • Create systemd unit files for Zookeeper and Kafka to manage them as services. Sample unit files can be found within the Kafka installation directory or online resources.

1. Start Zookeeper and Kafka Services (If using systemd)
2. Bash
3. sudo systemctl start zookeeper
4. sudo systemctl start kafka
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Verifying the Installation

1. Create a test topic:
2. Bash
3. /opt/kafka/bin/Kafka-topics.sh –create –topic test-topic –bootstrap-server localhost:9092
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6. List the created topic:
7. Bash
8. /opt/kafka/bin/kafka-topics.sh –list –bootstrap-server localhost:9092 
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Conclusion

Congratulations! You’ve successfully downloaded and installed Kafka on your Ubuntu system. You can now start experimenting with Kafka’s robust features for real-time data processing. Refer to the official Apache Kafka documentation for further customization and in-depth usage instructions.