How Pinterest uses Kafka for Long-Term Data Storage
I spent hours diving into this so you don’t have to! Here is what I learned: Pinterest doesn't store all data on Kafka brokers forever. Older data is moved to a remote storage like Amazon S3. They built a tool called Segment Uploader to automate this process. The Segment Uploader periodically transfers older data from Kafka brokers to remote storage. Segment Uploader runs as a sidecar alongside the Kafka broker. They also developed a specialized Consumer Library to fetch data intelligently. The library fetches old data directly from remote storage and new data from Kafka brokers. By combining Kafka’s real-time capabilities with cost-efficient remote storage, Pinterest ensures scalability, reliability, and efficient long-term data management. PS - I recently published an article on my free Newsletter covering this case study in-depth with visuals: https://designsystemsweekly.substack.com/p/how-pinterest-leverages-kafka-for
I spent hours diving into this so you don’t have to!
Here is what I learned:
- Pinterest doesn't store all data on Kafka brokers forever.
- Older data is moved to a remote storage like Amazon S3.
- They built a tool called Segment Uploader to automate this process.
- The Segment Uploader periodically transfers older data from Kafka brokers to remote storage.
- Segment Uploader runs as a sidecar alongside the Kafka broker.
- They also developed a specialized Consumer Library to fetch data intelligently.
- The library fetches old data directly from remote storage and new data from Kafka brokers.
By combining Kafka’s real-time capabilities with cost-efficient remote storage, Pinterest ensures scalability, reliability, and efficient long-term data management.
PS - I recently published an article on my free Newsletter covering this case study in-depth with visuals: https://designsystemsweekly.substack.com/p/how-pinterest-leverages-kafka-for
