A Kafka consumer is configured with max.poll.records=1000 but only 100 records are returned per poll. What could be a likely cause?

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Kafka - Performance Tuning

A Kafka consumer is configured with max.poll.records=1000 but only 100 records are returned per poll. What could be a likely cause?

AConsumer group has too many members.

BThe broker has fewer records available in the partitions.

Cfetch.min.bytes is set to zero.

Dmax.poll.records is set too high causing errors.

Step-by-Step Solution

Solution:

Step 1: Understand max.poll.records effect
This setting is a maximum limit; actual records returned depend on availability.
Step 2: Reason about fewer records returned
If broker partitions have fewer than 1000 records, consumer returns only available records.
Final Answer:
The broker has fewer records available in the partitions. -> Option B
Quick Check:
max.poll.records limits max, not guarantees count [OK]

Quick Trick: max.poll.records caps but doesn't guarantee record count [OK]

Common Mistakes:

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