Apache Kafka Complete Practice Exam 2025 – All-in-One Prep

The purpose of the Schema Registry in Kafka is to maintain schema definitions for messages. This component is crucial in ensuring that the data format used in messages is consistent and can be validated against predefined schemas. By keeping track of the schemas, it allows producers to understand what data they should send and enables consumers to deserialize and interpret the incoming messages appropriately.

When a producer sends messages, it typically describes the data according to a schema, which is registered in the Schema Registry. This registration ensures that all consumers can access the schema to correctly read and process the messages they receive. It also helps manage the evolution of message formats over time, as you can update schemas while maintaining compatibility with older versions—this is essential for the smooth operation of systems that rely on Kafka for data streaming.

In contrast, the other options do not align with the specific role of the Schema Registry: storing brokers pertains to the distribution of messages; caching consumer offsets is related to tracking the messages consumed; and managing the physical storage of Kafka logs deals with how data is physically stored on disk rather than with message schema management.