Kafka Topic Management

Kafka topic management is available from the Topics tab on a Kafka resource. This view lists the topics known to the cluster and lets you create, edit, and delete topics without leaving the Viduli console.

Creating a Topic

To create a topic:

1. Open the Kafka resource details view.
2. Go to the Topics tab.
3. Click Create Topic.
4. Enter the topic name.
5. Set partitions and any advanced topic settings you need.
6. Save the topic.

Editing a Topic

To update an existing topic:

1. Open the Topics tab for the Kafka cluster.
2. Select the topic you want to change.
3. Open the edit action.
4. Update the supported topic settings.
5. Save the changes.

Deleting a Topic

To delete a topic:

1. Open the Topics tab for the Kafka cluster.
2. Select the topic.
3. Choose the delete action.
4. Confirm the deletion.

Topic Name Rules

Topic names must:

• use lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens, and dots
• start and end with a letter or number
• be no longer than 249 characters

Topic Fields

The topic form exposes these settings.

Partitions: Number of partitions for the topic.

Replication Factor: Number of broker replicas for the topic. This field supports a concrete value or auto.

Min In-Sync Replicas: Minimum number of in-sync replicas required for a write to be considered committed. This field supports a concrete value or auto.

Cleanup Policy: Log cleanup behavior, such as delete or compaction.

Compression Type: Compression applied to topic data.

Message Timestamp Type: Whether Kafka uses producer timestamps or log append timestamps.

Retention Time: Maximum time to keep data before it becomes eligible for cleanup.

Retention Size: Maximum retained log size before older segments become eligible for cleanup.

Segment Roll Time: Maximum age of a log segment before Kafka rolls it.

Segment Size: Maximum size of a log segment before Kafka rolls it.

Max Message Size: Maximum allowed message size for the topic.

Flush Messages: Number of messages after which Kafka forces a flush.

Flush Time: Time after which Kafka forces a flush.

How auto Values Work

Surge supports auto for topic replication settings.

• replication_factor resolves to the lower of 3 or the number of broker nodes
• min_insync_replicas resolves to replication_factor - 1, with a minimum of 1

This makes it easier to create sensible topic settings without manually matching every topic to the current broker count.

Topic Defaults and Per-Topic Settings

Cluster-level topic defaults and per-topic settings are separate controls.

• Use the cluster Configuration tab to manage defaults applied at the cluster level
• Use the Topics tab when a specific topic needs its own settings

For cluster-level fields, see Kafka configuration.