The latest major release of Apache Kafka, version 3.9.0, marks the final iteration in the 3.x line and will also be the last to feature deprecated Apache ZooKeeper mode, with support for this mode being dropped in a future release. The new KRaft Controller Membership Changes feature allows administrators to dynamically add or remove controller nodes without downtime. Users of ZooKeeper mode need to undergo a migration process before switching to KRaft mode. Kafka 4.0 will no longer support running in ZK mode, requiring users to migrate through a bridge release. Additionally, the Tiered storage feature has been improved with new features such as dynamic quota control and remote log metadata flag examination. There are also several improvements made to Kafka Streams and Kafka Connect, including enhanced exception handling and health check endpoints. The release was a community effort involving over 100 contributors from around the world.