Amazon MSK adds support for Apache Kafka version 2.8.0

[Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka](/msk/) (Amazon MSK) now supports Apache Kafka version 2.8.0 for new and existing clusters. Apache Kafka 2.8.0 includes several bug fixes and new features that improve performance. Some of the key features include connection rate limiting to avoid problems with misconfigured clients ([KIP-612](https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/KAFKA/KIP-612%3A+Ability+to+Limit+Connection+Creation+Rate+on+Brokers)) and topic identifiers which provides performance benefits ([KIP-516](https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/KAFKA/KIP-516%3A+Topic+Identifiers)). There is also an early access feature to replace zookeeper with a self-managed metadata quorum ([KIP-500](https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/KAFKA/KIP-500%3A+Replace+ZooKeeper+with+a+Self-Managed+Metadata+Quorum)), however this is not recommended for use in production. For a complete list of improvements and bug fixes, see the Apache Kafka release notes for 2.8.0. Amazon MSK is a fully managed service for Apache Kafka that makes it easy for you to build and run applications that use Apache Kafka as a data store. Amazon MSK is 100% compatible with Apache Kafka, which enables you to quickly migrate your existing Apache Kafka workloads to Amazon MSK with confidence or build new ones from scratch. With Amazon MSK, you can spend more time innovating on applications and less time managing clusters. To learn how to get started, see the [Amazon MSK Developer Guide](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/msk/latest/developerguide/getting-started.html). Support for Apache Kafka version 2.8.0 is offered in all [AWS regions](/about-aws/global-infrastructure/regional-product-services/) where Amazon MSK is available. Modified 9/27/2021 – In an effort to ensure a great experience, expired links in this post have been updated or removed from the original post.