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https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/KAFKA-13538?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:all-tabpanel
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Haoze Wu updated KAFKA-13538:
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Attachment: (was: Screenshot from 2021-12-12 16-33-11.png)
> Unexpected TopicExistsException related to Admin#createTopics after broker
> crash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Key: KAFKA-13538
> URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/KAFKA-13538
> Project: Kafka
> Issue Type: Bug
> Components: build
> Affects Versions: 2.8.0
> Reporter: Haoze Wu
> Priority: Major
> Attachments: Screenshot from 2021-12-12 16-34-25.png
>
>
> We were using the official Kafka Java API to create a topic in a Kafka broker
> cluster (3 brokers):
> {code:java}
> CreateTopicsResult result = admin.createTopics(...);
> ... = result.all().get(); {code}
> The topic we create always has replication factor = 2, and partition = 2. If
> one of the brokers crashes for some reason and the client tries to create a
> topic exactly in this crashed broker, we usually observe that the client may
> suffer from a delay of a few seconds due to the disconnection issue, and then
> the client automatically connects to another broker and creates the topic in
> this broker. Everything is done automatically in the client, under the code
> of `admin.createTopics(...)` and `result.all().get()`.
> However, we found that sometimes we got `TopicExistsException` from
> `result.all().get()`, but we had never created this topic beforehand.
> After some investigation on the source code of client, we found that this
> issue happens in this way:
> # The client connects to a broker (say, broker X) and then sends the topic
> creation request.
> # This topic has replication factor = 2 and partition = 2, so broker X may
> inform another broker of this information.
> # Broker X suddenly crashes for some reason, and the response for the topic
> creation request has not been sent back to the client.
> # The client eventually learns that broker X crashes, but never gets the
> response for the topic creation request. Thus the client thinks the topic
> creation request fails, and thus connects to another broker (say, broker Y)
> and then sends the topic creation request again.
> # This topic creation request (with replication factor = 2 and partition =
> 2) had been partially executed before broker X crashes, so broker Y may have
> done something required by broker X. For example, broker Y has some metadata
> about this topic. Therefore, when Broker Y does some sanity check with the
> metadata, it will find this topic exists, so broker Y directly returns
> `TopicExistsException` as the response.
> # The client receives `TopicExistsException`, and directly believes that
> this topic has been created, so it is thrown back to the user with the API
> `result.all().get()`.
> There are 2 diagrams illustrating these 6 steps:
> !Screenshot from 2021-12-12 16-34-25.png!
> Now the core question is whether this workflow violates the semantic & design
> of the Kafka Client API. We read the “Create Topics Response” section in
> KIP-4
> ([https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/kafka/kip-4+-+command+line+and+centralized+administrative+operations]).
> We found that the description in KIP-4 focuses on the batch request of topic
> creations and how they work independently. It does not talk about how the
> client should deal with the aforementioned buggy scenario.
> According to “common sense”, we think the client should be able to know that
> the metadata existing in broker Y is actually created by the client via the
> crashed broker X. Also, the client should not throw `TopicExistsException` to
> the user.
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