IntegrationAdvanceddlqplatform-eventskafka
Design dead letter topic pattern for failed Platform Event processing
Real World Scenario
Malformed Platform Event payloads crash consumer; infinite retry loop blocks entire partition processing valid events.
Expected Answer
• After N processing failures route event to dead letter topic
• DLQ retention 30 days for forensic analysis
• Alert DLQ depth greater than zero immediately
• Separate DLQ consumer manual replay after fix
• Poison message quarantine do not block main consumer
• Schema validation before business logic reject early to DLQ
• Runbook DLQ replay procedure with idempotency
Follow-Up Questions & Answers
Click to expand — each follow-up includes a direct, interview-ready answer
Direct answer: After N processing failures route event to dead letter topic Also consider: DLQ retention 30 days for forensic analysis In practice: Alert DLQ depth greater than zero immediately Optimize for scale and operational observability.
Architect Perspective
DLQ prevents one bad message stopping entire stream—mandatory for production event consumers.