This section guides you through installing the latest version of Apache Kafka on an Ubuntu Pro 24.04 (Arm64) virtual machine running on Azure Cobalt 100. Kafka is a high-throughput, distributed event streaming platform used for real-time data pipelines and messaging applications.
Apache Kafka runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), so Java must be installed before setting up Kafka. Use the following commands to update your package index and install the default JDK:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y default-jdk
This installs the Java Development Kit (JDK), which includes the JVM, compiler, and standard libraries required for running Kafka services.
Use the following commands to download and install Apache Kafka 4.1.0 in the /opt directory, extract the archive, and set appropriate permissions for your user. This prepares your system to run Kafka without requiring elevated privileges later.
cd /opt
sudo curl -O https://archive.apache.org/dist/kafka/4.1.0/kafka_2.13-4.1.0.tgz
sudo tar -xvzf kafka_2.13-4.1.0.tgz
sudo mv kafka_2.13-4.1.0 kafka
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER kafka
Kafka 3.5.0 release announcement includes a significant number of new features and fixes, including improving Kafka Connect and MirrorMaker 2, benefiting both x86 and Arm architectures. The Arm Ecosystem Dashboard recommends Apache Kafka version 3.5.0 as the minimum recommended on Arm platforms.
After extraction, verify that Kafka was installed successfully by checking the version:
cd /opt/kafka
bin/kafka-topics.sh --version
You should see output similar to:
4.1.0
Kafka installation is complete. You can now proceed with the baseline testing.