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Cluster Mirroring will be introduced through a phased rollout across multiple Kafka releases to ensure stability and gather community feedback. 

Release Phases

Early

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Access

Cluster Mirroring is introduced as an early access feature, disabled by default to prevent accidental production usage. To enable it, all cluster nodes (controllers and brokers) must explicitly enable unstable API versions (unstable.api.versions.enable=true) and unstable feature versions (unstable.feature.versions.enable=true) in all configuration files. After starting the cluster with a minimum metadata version, operators can dynamically enable the mirror version feature to activate Cluster Mirroring (bin/kafka-features.sh --bootstrap-server :9092 upgrade --feature mirror.version=1). This stage is intended for testing and evaluation in non-production environments only, as the new APIs and metadata record formats may change in subsequent releases without backward compatibility guarantees.

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In a future release, Cluster Mirroring will transition to preview status with frozen protocol and metadata schemas. The feature will still require explicit enablement via dynamic feature upgrades but will no longer require the unstable API and feature configuration. The feature remains disabled by default to ensure operators consciously opt-in, but the upgrade path from early access clusters will be officially supported with compatibility guarantees. This stage is suitable for pre-production testing and pilot deployments where API stability is required but production-grade maturity is not yet needed.

General

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Availability

When Cluster Mirroring reaches general availability, the feature will be enabled by default when clusters reach the corresponding production metadata version. All new APIs will become stable production APIs with all unstable markers removed from their definition. No special configuration flags or explicit feature enablement will be required beyond setting an appropriate metadata version, and the feature will be fully supported for mission-critical production workloads under Kafka's standard compatibility guarantees. Clusters using Cluster Mirroring in preview can upgrade seamlessly to GA releases without migration steps. Downgrade is also supported, but it would require manual cleanup of the internal topic.

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