| Server | Recommended client |
|---|---|
| Kafka | node-rdkafka |
| ActiveMQ | rhea |
| Redis | ioredis |
Recommendation is to use node-rdkafka, because it is:
- Widely used and recommended by the messaging groups within the
teamsorganizations for performance, features, and protocol compatibility. - Based on the same librdkafka, maintained by the Kafka project and used by most language clients.
This is not without risks:
- In the midst of a maintenance challenge that it may or may not be pulling out of.
- It is written in C++, which can be problematic in some environments.
We are keeping an eye on the situation and may update the recommendation based on what happens going forward.
Reuse connections. Do not write apps that connect/send/disconnect repeatedly in a loop. This will result in poor performance, not only for the individual application, but will also impact the Kafka cluster for other users.
Architect applications so that they connect and keep an open connection on which events are processed when they arrive.
Recommendation is to use rhea which supports AMQP1.0 (one of the protocols supported by ActiveQ). This module is maintained by Red Hat and has higher weekly downloads than the competing module for ActiveMQ which supports the STOMP protocol (the native ActiveMQ protocol).
Recommendation is to use ioredis. There are 2 good options with no clear technical winner, but IBM has experience in production with ioredis so that is why it is recommended over redis.
If you are already using redis for messaging this can provide a low cost option but does not support more advanced features like High Availability. For more sophisticated uses cases you should consider a more complete option like Kafka.