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Standalone mode runs all Pulsar components (broker, BookKeeper, and ZooKeeper) in a single JVM process. This is ideal for local development, testing, and proof-of-concept deployments.

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Prerequisites

  • Java 11 or higher
  • At least 4GB of RAM
  • Sufficient disk space for message storage

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Quick Start

1

Download and extract Pulsar

Download the latest Pulsar release and extract it:
wget https://archive.apache.org/dist/pulsar/pulsar-3.x.x/apache-pulsar-3.x.x-bin.tar.gz
tar xvfz apache-pulsar-3.x.x-bin.tar.gz
cd apache-pulsar-3.x.x
2

Start Pulsar standalone

Start Pulsar in standalone mode:
bin/pulsar standalone
This command starts all Pulsar services in a single process.
3

Verify the installation

In a new terminal, verify that Pulsar is running:
bin/pulsar-admin brokers healthcheck
You should see output indicating the broker is healthy.

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Configuration

Standalone mode uses the conf/standalone.conf configuration file. Key configuration parameters include:

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Cluster Settings

# Name of the cluster
clusterName=standalone

# Metadata store URL (embedded ZooKeeper)
metadataStoreUrl=

# Broker service ports
brokerServicePort=6650
webServicePort=8080

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Storage Settings

# Managed ledger settings
managedLedgerDefaultEnsembleSize=1
managedLedgerDefaultWriteQuorum=1
managedLedgerDefaultAckQuorum=1

# BookKeeper client timeout
bookkeeperClientTimeoutInSeconds=30

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Message Retention

# Default retention time (0 = disabled)
defaultRetentionTimeInMinutes=0

# Default retention size (0 = disabled)
defaultRetentionSizeInMB=0

# Backlog quota check
backlogQuotaCheckEnabled=true
backlogQuotaDefaultLimitGB=10

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Load Balancer

# Disable load balancer in standalone
loadBalancerEnabled=false
loadManagerClassName=org.apache.pulsar.broker.loadbalance.NoopLoadManager

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Data Storage

By default, standalone mode stores data in the data/ directory:
  • data/bookkeeper/ledgers - Message data
  • data/bookkeeper/journal - BookKeeper journal
  • data/zookeeper - ZooKeeper data
To change the data directory, modify the configuration file before starting.

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Advanced Configuration

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Custom Configuration File

Create a custom configuration file and start standalone with it: 
bin/pulsar standalone --config /path/to/custom/standalone.conf

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Enable Functions Worker

To enable Pulsar Functions in standalone mode: 
# Enable Functions Worker
functionsWorkerEnabled=true

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WebSocket Service

Enable WebSocket API for real-time messaging: 
# Enable WebSocket service
webSocketServiceEnabled=true
webSocketNumIoThreads=8

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Authentication and Authorization

For testing authentication: 
# Enable authentication
authenticationEnabled=false
authenticationProviders=

# Enable authorization
authorizationEnabled=false
authorizationProvider=org.apache.pulsar.broker.authorization.PulsarAuthorizationProvider

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Running in Background

To run standalone as a background service: 
# Start in background
bin/pulsar-daemon start standalone

# Check status
bin/pulsar-daemon status standalone

# Stop
bin/pulsar-daemon stop standalone

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Common Operations

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Create a Tenant and Namespace

# Create a tenant
bin/pulsar-admin tenants create my-tenant

# Create a namespace
bin/pulsar-admin namespaces create my-tenant/my-namespace

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Produce and Consume Messages

# Produce messages
bin/pulsar-client produce my-topic --messages "Hello Pulsar"

# Consume messages
bin/pulsar-client consume my-topic --subscription-name my-sub -n 0

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Monitor Topics

# List topics
bin/pulsar-admin topics list public/default

# Get topic stats
bin/pulsar-admin topics stats persistent://public/default/my-topic

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Limitations

Standalone mode is not recommended for production use. It has the following limitations:
  • No high availability (single point of failure)
  • Limited scalability
  • All components share the same JVM
  • Data is stored locally with no replication
  • No horizontal scaling capabilities

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Migration to Cluster Mode

When ready to move to production, migrate to a full cluster deployment:
  1. Export your configuration and schemas
  2. Set up a proper cluster with separate ZooKeeper, BookKeeper, and broker nodes
  3. Restore your tenants, namespaces, and schemas
  4. Migrate your applications to the new cluster
See Cluster Deployment for full cluster setup instructions.

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Troubleshooting

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Port Already in Use

If ports 6650 or 8080 are already in use: 
brokerServicePort=6651
webServicePort=8081

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Out of Memory

Increase JVM heap size by setting the PULSAR_MEM environment variable: 
export PULSAR_MEM="-Xms2g -Xmx2g -XX:MaxDirectMemorySize=2g"
bin/pulsar standalone

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Log Files

Check logs in the logs/ directory: 
tail -f logs/pulsar-standalone-*.log

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Next Steps

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