       </li>
        <li>
            The Next Generation of the Consumer Rebalance Protocol (<a href="https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/x/HhD1D">KIP-848</a>)
            is now Generally Available (GA) in Apache Kafka 4.0. The protocol is automatically enabled on the server when the upgrade to 4.0 is finalized.
            Note that once the new protocol is used by consumer groups, the cluster can only be downgraded to version 3.4.1 or newer.
            For more information check <a href="/{{version}}/d