Amazon MSK in Kafka - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

What is the output of this Kafka consumer configuration?

Consider the following Kafka consumer configuration snippet for Amazon MSK. What will be the output when the consumer tries to read messages from a topic that does not exist?

Kafka

Properties props = new Properties();
props.put("bootstrap.servers", "b-1.mskcluster.example.com:9092,b-2.mskcluster.example.com:9092");
props.put("group.id", "test-group");
props.put("key.deserializer", "org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.StringDeserializer");
props.put("value.deserializer", "org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.StringDeserializer");
KafkaConsumer<String, String> consumer = new KafkaConsumer<>(props);
consumer.subscribe(Collections.singletonList("nonexistent-topic"));
ConsumerRecords<String, String> records = consumer.poll(Duration.ofSeconds(5));
System.out.println("Number of records: " + records.count());

A Number of records: 0

B Exception: org.apache.kafka.common.errors.UnknownTopicOrPartitionException

C Number of records: null

D Consumer hangs indefinitely waiting for messages

💡 Hint

Think about how Kafka handles subscriptions to topics that do not exist yet.

When a Kafka consumer subscribes to a topic that does not exist, it does not throw an error immediately. Instead, it waits and polls, returning zero records until the topic is created.

🧠 Conceptual

intermediate

Which Amazon MSK feature ensures data durability across multiple availability zones?

Amazon MSK is designed to be highly available and durable. Which feature primarily ensures that your Kafka data is safe even if one availability zone fails?

A Replication factor configured on Kafka topics

B Using a single broker in one availability zone

C Enabling auto-scaling on the MSK cluster

D Using client-side caching in Kafka producers

💡 Hint

Think about how Kafka replicates data to avoid data loss.

Kafka topics have a replication factor that determines how many copies of each partition exist across brokers in different availability zones, ensuring durability.

🔧 Debug

advanced

Why does this Kafka producer fail to send messages to Amazon MSK?

Examine the following Kafka producer code snippet. It fails to send messages to the MSK cluster. What is the most likely cause?

Kafka

Properties props = new Properties();
props.put("bootstrap.servers", "b-1.mskcluster.example.com:9092");
props.put("key.serializer", "org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.StringSerializer");
props.put("value.serializer", "org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.StringSerializer");
KafkaProducer<String, String> producer = new KafkaProducer<>(props);
ProducerRecord<String, String> record = new ProducerRecord<>("my-topic", "key1", "value1");
producer.send(record);
producer.close();

A Incorrect topic name format; topics must start with 'msk-' prefix

B KafkaProducer requires a consumer group id to send messages

C Producer is missing a call to flush() before close()

D Missing security configuration for SASL/SCRAM authentication

💡 Hint

Amazon MSK clusters often require authentication settings in the client configuration.

If the MSK cluster is configured with SASL/SCRAM authentication, the producer must include the proper security settings to connect and send messages.

📝 Syntax

advanced

Identify the syntax error in this Kafka topic creation command for Amazon MSK.

Which option contains the correct syntax to create a Kafka topic named 'orders' with 3 partitions and a replication factor of 2 using kafka-topics.sh CLI?

A kafka-topics.sh --create --topic orders --partition 3 --replication 2 --bootstrap-server b-1.mskcluster.example.com:9092

B kafka-topics.sh --create --topic orders --partitions 3 --replication-factor 2 --bootstrap-server b-1.mskcluster.example.com:9092

C kafka-topics.sh --create --topic orders --partitions=3 --replication-factor=2 --bootstrap-server b-1.mskcluster.example.com:9092

D kafka-topics.sh --create orders --partitions 3 --replication-factor 2 --bootstrap-server b-1.mskcluster.example.com:9092

💡 Hint

Check the exact option names and their spelling for partitions and replication factor.

The correct flags are --partitions and --replication-factor without equals signs. The topic name must follow the --topic flag.

🚀 Application

expert

How to configure an Amazon MSK cluster for encryption in transit and at rest?

You want to secure your Amazon MSK cluster so that all data is encrypted both when moving between clients and brokers, and when stored on disk. Which configuration steps are required?

A Use plaintext communication and enable EBS encryption only

B Enable SASL authentication only; encryption is automatic

C Enable TLS encryption for client-broker communication and enable AWS KMS encryption for EBS volumes

D Configure client-side encryption libraries; no MSK cluster changes needed

💡 Hint

Think about both network encryption and storage encryption options in MSK.

Encryption in transit is achieved by enabling TLS on the MSK cluster and clients. Encryption at rest is done by enabling AWS KMS encryption on the EBS volumes used by the brokers.