avoid ordering and skew pitfalls when using pulsar's key_shared subscription
domain: pulsar.apache.org · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
Sampled — shipped under file-level sampling, not individually fact-checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Steps
Choose Key_Shared when messages must be distributed across consumers but same-key or same-ordering-key messages must go to only one consumer.
Pick a mapping algorithm: Auto-split Hash Range or Auto-split Consistent Hashing for automatic load balancing, or the Sticky hash range policy for manual control.
If using the Sticky policy, manually assign hash ranges from 0 to 65535 per consumer and ensure the union of all ranges covers the full range, or messages in uncovered ranges get stuck.
To guarantee strict per-key ordering, use the sticky hash range policy and manage range splitting and coverage explicitly rather than relying on auto-split.
Monitor consumer scale-up and scale-down events, since auto-split hash ranges get reshuffled when consumers join or leave, temporarily affecting ordering guarantees.
Known gotchas
With sticky hash ranges, any hash value not covered by an assigned range has no consumer to dispatch to, and Pulsar can't deliver those messages until ranges are fixed.
Only Key_Shared with the sticky policy gives strict ordering; auto-split modes rebalance ranges on consumer changes, which can reorder delivery across a rebalance.
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