// Module included in the following assemblies:
//
// assembly-storage.adoc

[id='considerations-for-data-storage-{context}']
= Data storage considerations

[role="_abstract"]
For Strimzi to work well, an efficient data storage infrastructure is essential.
We strongly recommend using block storage.
Strimzi is only tested for use with block storage. 
File storage, such as NFS, is not tested and there is no guarantee it will work. 

Choose one of the following options for your block storage:

* A cloud-based block storage solution, such as {aws-ebs}
* Persistent storage using {K8sLocalPersistentVolumes}
* Storage Area Network (SAN) volumes accessed by a protocol such as _Fibre Channel_ or _iSCSI_

NOTE: Strimzi does not require Kubernetes raw block volumes.

== File systems

Kafka uses a file system for storing messages.
Strimzi is compatible with the XFS and ext4 file systems, which are commonly used with Kafka.
Consider the underlying architecture and requirements of your deployment when choosing and setting up your file system.

For more information, refer to {ApacheKafkaFileSystem} in the Kafka documentation.

== Disk usage
Use separate disks for Apache Kafka and ZooKeeper.

Solid-state drives (SSDs), though not essential, can improve the performance of Kafka in large clusters where data is sent to and received from multiple topics asynchronously.
SSDs are particularly effective with ZooKeeper, which requires fast, low latency data access.

NOTE: You do not need to provision replicated storage because Kafka and ZooKeeper both have built-in data replication.
