A Kafka topic is a named stream where producers publish records and consumers read them. Inspecting it helps determine whether a message propagated through a distributed system. section 13.1.1
Use topic inspection as one checkpoint in an investigation, not as a complete diagnosis. Compare it with distributed traces, POS or application logs, and database records to locate where processing stopped. section 13.1.1
A practical investigation asks:
- Did the payment request reach the expected service and produce a message? section 13.1.1
- Does the topic contain evidence of the one-euro transaction when the trace ends before downstream work? section 13.1.1
- If the message exists, which later service or database operation failed to complete? section 13.1.1
Figure 13.2 The engineer checked the POS logs followed by the Kafka topic. The clues they found revealed the possibility that the problem is in the auditing service side.
Use the payment-flow diagram to connect POS logs with Kafka topic evidence and narrow suspicion toward the auditing service. section 13.1.1
