Apache Kafka is a distributed event streaming platform used by thousands of companies for high-performance data pipelines, streaming analytics, data integration, and mission-critical applications. Kafka is designed to handle real-time data feeds and is often used for building real-time streaming data pipelines and applications that adapt to the data streams.
When working with Kafka, you might encounter the RecordTooLargeException. This error typically manifests when a producer attempts to send a record that exceeds the maximum allowable size configured in Kafka. The error message usually indicates that the record size is too large for the broker to handle.
Developers may notice that certain messages are not being delivered to the Kafka topic, and upon checking the logs, they find an error similar to:
org.apache.kafka.common.errors.RecordTooLargeException: The message is 1048576 bytes when serialized which is larger than the maximum request size you have configured with the max.request.size configuration.
The RecordTooLargeException occurs when a producer sends a message that exceeds the maximum size allowed by the Kafka broker. By default, Kafka has a size limit on messages to ensure efficient processing and avoid memory issues. The default maximum message size is typically set to 1MB.
max.message.bytes: This broker configuration parameter defines the maximum size of a message that the broker can accept.max.request.size: This producer configuration parameter defines the maximum size of a request that the producer can send.To resolve the RecordTooLargeException, you can either increase the maximum allowable message size or reduce the size of the records being sent. Here are the steps to address this issue:
To increase the maximum message size, you need to adjust the max.message.bytes configuration on the broker and the max.request.size on the producer.
# On the Kafka broker, update the server.properties file:
max.message.bytes=2097152 # Set to 2MB or your desired size
# On the producer configuration:
max.request.size=2097152 # Ensure this matches the broker setting
After making these changes, restart the Kafka broker and the producer application to apply the new settings.
If increasing the message size is not feasible, consider reducing the size of the records. This can be done by compressing the data or breaking it into smaller chunks.
# Enable compression on the producer:
compression.type=gzip # Options include gzip, snappy, lz4, zstd
For more information on Kafka compression, refer to the Kafka Documentation.
Handling the RecordTooLargeException in Kafka involves understanding the configuration limits and adjusting them according to your needs. By either increasing the allowable message size or optimizing the record size, you can ensure smooth data flow in your Kafka pipelines. For further reading, check out the Kafka Broker Configuration and Producer Configuration documentation.
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