Topic deletion and cleanup in Kafka - Cheat Sheet & Quick Revision

Recall & Review

beginner

What happens when you delete a Kafka topic?

Deleting a Kafka topic removes all its data and metadata from the cluster. This means all messages, partitions, and offsets are permanently lost.

beginner

How do you enable topic deletion in Kafka?

You enable topic deletion by setting the broker configuration delete.topic.enable=true. Without this, topic deletion requests are ignored.

intermediate

What is the role of the log.retention.ms setting in topic cleanup?

The log.retention.ms setting controls how long Kafka keeps messages before deleting them during cleanup. It helps manage disk space by removing old data.

intermediate

Explain the difference between topic deletion and log cleanup in Kafka.

Topic deletion removes the entire topic and all its data permanently. Log cleanup removes old messages based on retention policies but keeps the topic and newer messages intact.

beginner

What happens if delete.topic.enable is set to false and you try to delete a topic?

If delete.topic.enable is false, Kafka ignores delete requests. The topic remains active and data is not removed.

Which Kafka broker setting must be enabled to allow topic deletion?

A delete.topic.enable=true

B log.retention.ms=0

C auto.create.topics.enable=true

D log.cleanup.policy=delete

The setting delete.topic.enable=true allows Kafka to delete topics when requested.

What does Kafka do when a topic is deleted?

A Disables the topic but keeps data

B Removes all data and metadata for the topic

C Only deletes messages older than retention period

D Archives the topic data for backup

Deleting a topic removes all its data and metadata permanently from Kafka.

What controls how long Kafka keeps messages before cleanup?

A auto.offset.reset

B delete.topic.enable

C log.retention.ms

D log.segment.bytes

log.retention.ms sets the time Kafka retains messages before deleting them.

If delete.topic.enable is false, what happens when you try to delete a topic?

A The topic is deleted immediately

B The topic is archived

C Kafka throws an error

D The delete request is ignored

Kafka ignores delete requests if delete.topic.enable is false.

Which of the following is NOT true about Kafka topic deletion?

A It only deletes messages older than retention time

B It can be disabled via broker config

C It permanently removes all topic data

D It removes topic metadata

Topic deletion removes the entire topic, not just old messages.

Describe the process and configuration needed to delete a Kafka topic safely.

Think about broker settings and what happens to data.

Explain the difference between Kafka topic deletion and log cleanup.

Focus on what is removed and what remains.