People talk about Zookeeper as a negative, but in a quorum it&#x27;s been one of the most stable and reliable pieces of software I&#x27;ve deployed, despite being a bit frustrating to set up &#x2F; configure. Netflix&#x27;s Exhibitor[1] is an indispensable addition to it.<p>Also, once you&#x27;re on the Big Data™ train, a lot of things like to plug into Zookeeper, so it becomes more of a convenience.<p>Kafka, and presumably DL, are at their most useful when you&#x27;re pushing the limits of NIC and&#x2F;or HDD performance for throughput. Zookeeper&#x27;s configuration is a footnote in the complexity of managing one of these systems, and lets them avoid implementing their own byzantine coordination system. Also, folks seem to appreciate Aphyr&#x27;s opinion, and he states it pretty plainly: <i>Use Zookeeper. It’s mature, well-designed, and battle-tested.</i> [2]<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;Netflix&#x2F;exhibitor" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;Netflix&#x2F;exhibitor</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;aphyr.com&#x2F;posts&#x2F;291-jepsen-zookeeper" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;aphyr.com&#x2F;posts&#x2F;291-jepsen-zookeeper</a>