Kafka Topics

Overview

The Kafka Topics page in Condense provides a management interface to view, create, and configure topics within a Kafka cluster. From this page, administrators can define replication and partitioning, adjust retention policies, and apply advanced topic-level settings without requiring direct Kafka CLI commands. Path: Kafka Management → Kafka Topics

Topic List

On the left-hand panel, Condense displays all existing topics in the connected Kafka cluster.

Topics are listed alphabetically.
A search box allows filtering by topic name.

Selecting a topic loads its configuration details in the main panel.

Topic Actions

For each topic, Condense provides the following actions in the top-right menu:

Messages → Opens the message viewer for browsing records in the topic.
Edit → Enables modification of topic configuration.

Delete → Permanently deletes the selected topic from the cluster.

Additionally, the Create Topic button allows new topic creation with custom parameters.

Basic Configuration

When creating or editing a topic, the following required fields must be defined

Field	Description	Example
Replication Factor	Number of replicas for each partition. Ensures data availability.	`3`
No of Partitions	Number of partitions in the topic. Determines parallelism and throughput.	`6`
Retention Period (days)	Duration for which messages are retained in the topic before deletion.	`7`

Advanced Configurations

Advanced settings allow fine-grained control of topic behavior. These fields map directly to Kafka topic configuration parameters.

Field	Description	Example
Cleanup Policy	Determines log cleanup strategy. Options: `Delete` (default), `Compact`.	`Delete`
Delete Retention Period (days)	How long delete markers are retained during log compaction.	`1`
Max Compaction Lag (ms)	Maximum time a record can remain uncompacted.	`9223372036854775807`
Max Message Size (bytes)	Maximum size of an individual message allowed.	`5242940`
Message Timestamp After Max (ms)	Upper bound for timestamp range in messages.	`9223372036854775807`
Message Timestamp Before Max (ms)	Lower bound for timestamp range in messages.	`9223372036854775807`
Message Timestamp Type	Defines how message timestamps are set. Options: `CreateTime`, `LogAppendTime`.	`CreateTime`
Min Compaction Lag (ms)	Minimum time a record must remain before compaction.	`0`
Min In-Sync Replicas	Minimum number of replicas that must acknowledge a write for it to succeed.	`1`
Retention Size (bytes)	Maximum total size of log segments retained before deletion. `-1` = unlimited.	`-1`
Segment Size (bytes)	Size of each log segment file before rolling.	`1073741824`
Segment Period (ms)	Time-based rolling interval for log segments.	`604800000`

Usage Notes

All advanced fields correspond to Kafka’s topic-level configuration properties.
Fields not explicitly set in Condense will use Kafka cluster defaults.
Certain changes (e.g., partition count) are not reversible once applied.
Care must be taken with retention and cleanup policies to avoid unintended data loss.

Field	Description	Example
Replication Factor	Number of replicas for each partition. Ensures data availability.	`3`
No of Partitions	Number of partitions in the topic. Determines parallelism and throughput.	`6`
Retention Period (days)	Duration for which messages are retained in the topic before deletion.	`7`

Field	Description	Example
Cleanup Policy	Determines log cleanup strategy. Options: `Delete` (default), `Compact`.	`Delete`
Delete Retention Period (days)	How long delete markers are retained during log compaction.	`1`
Max Compaction Lag (ms)	Maximum time a record can remain uncompacted.	`9223372036854775807`
Max Message Size (bytes)	Maximum size of an individual message allowed.	`5242940`
Message Timestamp After Max (ms)	Upper bound for timestamp range in messages.	`9223372036854775807`
Message Timestamp Before Max (ms)	Lower bound for timestamp range in messages.	`9223372036854775807`
Message Timestamp Type	Defines how message timestamps are set. Options: `CreateTime`, `LogAppendTime`.	`CreateTime`
Min Compaction Lag (ms)	Minimum time a record must remain before compaction.	`0`
Min In-Sync Replicas	Minimum number of replicas that must acknowledge a write for it to succeed.	`1`
Retention Size (bytes)	Maximum total size of log segments retained before deletion. `-1` = unlimited.	`-1`
Segment Size (bytes)	Size of each log segment file before rolling.	`1073741824`
Segment Period (ms)	Time-based rolling interval for log segments.	`604800000`

Field	Description	Example
Replication Factor	Number of replicas for each partition. Ensures data availability.	`3`
No of Partitions	Number of partitions in the topic. Determines parallelism and throughput.	`6`
Retention Period (days)	Duration for which messages are retained in the topic before deletion.	`7`

Field	Description	Example
Cleanup Policy	Determines log cleanup strategy. Options: `Delete` (default), `Compact`.	`Delete`
Delete Retention Period (days)	How long delete markers are retained during log compaction.	`1`
Max Compaction Lag (ms)	Maximum time a record can remain uncompacted.	`9223372036854775807`
Max Message Size (bytes)	Maximum size of an individual message allowed.	`5242940`
Message Timestamp After Max (ms)	Upper bound for timestamp range in messages.	`9223372036854775807`
Message Timestamp Before Max (ms)	Lower bound for timestamp range in messages.	`9223372036854775807`
Message Timestamp Type	Defines how message timestamps are set. Options: `CreateTime`, `LogAppendTime`.	`CreateTime`
Min Compaction Lag (ms)	Minimum time a record must remain before compaction.	`0`
Min In-Sync Replicas	Minimum number of replicas that must acknowledge a write for it to succeed.	`1`
Retention Size (bytes)	Maximum total size of log segments retained before deletion. `-1` = unlimited.	`-1`
Segment Size (bytes)	Size of each log segment file before rolling.	`1073741824`
Segment Period (ms)	Time-based rolling interval for log segments.	`604800000`

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Overview

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​Overview

​Topic List

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Overview

Topic List

Topic Actions

Basic Configuration

Advanced Configurations

Usage Notes

Related Sections