Instaclustr for Apache Kafka® and Kafka® Connect 4.2.1 are now generally available

June 23, 2026 | By Varun Ghai

 

NetApp is pleased to announce the general availability of Instaclustr for Apache Kafka® 4.2.1 and Kafka® Connect 4.2.1 on the NetApp Instaclustr Managed Platform. This is our first generally available release in the 4.2.x series on the NetApp Instaclustr Managed Platform. 

Kafka 4.2 introduces important improvements across reliability, operability, and developer experience, while Kafka 4.2.1, the first patch release, delivers critical fixes to ensure production stability for both Kafka and Kafka Connect. 

For full details, see the upstream Kafka 4.2.0 release announcement, Kafka 4.2.1 release announcement, and the 4.2.0 release notes and 4.2.1 release notes. We’re calling out here some of the more notable ones. 

What’s New in Apache Kafka 4.2.1 (key highlights)

Native queue-style consumption (Share Groups) 

Kafka 4.2 moves Share Groups (KIP-932), also known as Queues, to production readiness. This introduces native queue-like semantics, allowing multiple consumers to process records from the same partition with explicit acknowledgements enabling patterns like worker pools and asynchronous processing. This blog provides some information in Queues and this one details the best use-cases for it. Note – new metrics for share partition lag persistence and retrieval were added in this release (KIP-1224) which we’re working on making available soon to our managed Kafka customers. 

Kafka Streams improvements 

Kafka Streams becomes easier to operate at scale with: 

  • A server-side rebalance protocol (KIP-1071) 
  • Built-in dead letter queue (DLQ) handling (KIP-1034) 

For a practical walkthrough of DLQs, see our blog on it. 

Lifecycle and support 

With each new Kafka release, we review and update the lifecycle states for older supported Kafka versions in line with our lifecycle policy. To ensure you get the full benefit of our support and SLAs, we recommend staying current with supported GA versions and planning to upgrade at least once a year. This page provides a list of all supported Kafka versions and their lifecycle states as well as timelines for future changes. 

Getting Started 

If you’d like to upgrade to Kafka 4.2.1, please reach out to our support team to work through sequencing, compatibility checks, and rollout considerations. For customers wishing to try it on a new cluster, we’ve got documentation to help you get started. 

 And if you’re new to our managed service, it’s super easy to sign up and enjoy the benefits of a fully managed Kafka service with 24×7 technical support and industry-leading SLAs!