Apache Kafka is primarily designed to optimize the transmission and processing of data streams transferred via a direct connection between the data receiver and data source. Kafka acts as a messaging instance between the sender and the receiver, providing solutions to the common challenges encountered with this type of connection.
For example, the Apache platform provides a solution to the inability to cache data or messages when the receiver is not available (e.g. due to network problems). In addition, a properly set-up Kafka queue prevents the sender from overloading the receiver. This type of situation always occurs when information is sent faster than it can be received and processed during a direct connection. Lastly, the Kafka software is also ideal for situations in which the target system receives the message but crashes during processing. While the sender would normally assume that processing has occurred despite the crash, Apache Kafka reports the failure to the sender.
Unlike pure message queuing services such as databases, Apache Kafka is fault tolerant. This means that the software satisfies requirements to continue processing messages and data. Combined with its high scalability and ability to distribute transmitted information across any number of systems (distributed transaction log), this makes Apache Kafka an excellent solution for all services which need to ensure that data is stored and processed quickly while maintaining high availability.