How does Kinesis ensure ordering of data?

Kinesis ensures the ordering of data by providing strict ordering within each shard. Each shard in Kinesis acts as a sequence of records that are delivered in the exact order they are received. This means that if multiple records are sent to the same shard, they will be processed in the order they were ingested. This feature is crucial for applications that rely on the order of events, such as transaction logging or event streaming, where the sequence of events affects the outcome.

The architecture of Kinesis allows for parallel processing of data through multiple shards, but it is important to note that ordering is only guaranteed within a single shard. If data is distributed across multiple shards for scalability, then ordering cannot be guaranteed across those shards, which is why it’s essential to route related messages to the same shard if their order matters.

In contrast to other strategies mentioned, such as using global order across all shards or timestamping, Kinesis does not maintain a global order for records processed across all shards, as that would compromise performance and scalability. Instead, it focuses on ensuring that the ordering is preserved within individual shards, making it optimal for high-throughput and low-latency use cases.