# Logstash kafka output plugin - What happens if Kafka goes down

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-kafka-output-plugin-what-happens-if-kafka-goes-down/263012>\
**Category:** Logstash\
**Created:** [February 2, 2021, 4:05pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-kafka-output-plugin-what-happens-if-kafka-goes-down/263012 "2021-02-02T16:05:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![vigneshr35](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/vigneshr35/32/32636_2.png) [@vigneshr35](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/vigneshr35)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 4:05pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-kafka-output-plugin-what-happens-if-kafka-goes-down/263012/1 "2021-02-02T16:05:57Z")

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Hi All,

I am looking to use the Logstash Kafka output plugin to post events to a Kafka topic.

While logstash is pushing logs what happens if Kafka server goes down suddenly for some reason? By the time we bring back Kafka, do we loose data/events? If not, how does logstash handle this?

Please clarify

Thank you

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**Author:** ![Badger](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/badger/32/25190_2.png) [@Badger](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Badger)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 5:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-kafka-output-plugin-what-happens-if-kafka-goes-down/263012/2 "2021-02-02T17:41:02Z")

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The documentation of the [retries option](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/current/plugins-outputs-kafka.html#plugins-outputs-kafka-retries) explains this.

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**Author:** ![vigneshr35](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/vigneshr35/32/32636_2.png) [@vigneshr35](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/vigneshr35)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 3:04am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-kafka-output-plugin-what-happens-if-kafka-goes-down/263012/3 "2021-02-03T03:04:22Z")

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Excuse my ignorance. I should have checked the kafka output plugin configuration a bit thoroughly 🙂

Thank you for the response.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Badger](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/badger/32/25190_2.png) [@Badger](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Badger)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 3:26am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-kafka-output-plugin-what-happens-if-kafka-goes-down/263012/4 "2021-02-03T03:26:24Z")

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Absolutely not a problem. There is a huge volume of documentation for the Elastic Stack, and if you ask a clear question about what piece of documentation you need to read then folks will be happy to provide it.

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**Author:** ![vigneshr35](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/vigneshr35/32/32636_2.png) [@vigneshr35](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/vigneshr35)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 3:28am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-kafka-output-plugin-what-happens-if-kafka-goes-down/263012/5 "2021-02-03T03:28:30Z")

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Sure, thank you

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 3:29am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-kafka-output-plugin-what-happens-if-kafka-goes-down/263012/6 "2021-03-03T03:29:21Z")

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