# Manage source connector offsets using `offset.storage.topic`
<a name="msk-connect-manage-connector-offsets"></a>

This section provides information to help you manage source connector offsets using the *offset storage topic*. The offset storage topic is an internal topic that Kafka Connect uses to store connector and task configuration offsets.

## Considerations
<a name="msk-connect-manage-connector-offsets-considerations"></a>

Consider the following when you manage source connector offsets.
+ To specify an offset storage topic, provide the name of the Kafka topic where connector offsets are stored as the value for `offset.storage.topic` in your worker configuration.
+ Use caution when you make changes to a connector configuration. Changing configuration values may result in unintended connector behavior if a source connector uses values from the configuration to key offset records. We recommend that you refer to your plugin's documentation for guidance.
+ **Customize default number of partitions** – In addition to customizing the worker configuration by adding `offset.storage.topic`, you can customize the number of partitions for the offset and status storage topics. Default partitions for internal topics are as follows.
  + `config.storage.topic`: 1, not configurable, must be single partition topic
  + `offset.storage.topic`: 25, configurable by providing `offset.storage.partitions`
  + `status.storage.topic`: 5, configurable by providing `status.storage.partitions`
+ **Manually deleting topics** – Amazon MSK Connect creates new Kafka connect internal topics (topic name starts with `__amazon_msk_connect`) on every deployment of connectors. Old topics that are attached to deleted connectors are not automatically removed because internal topics, such as `offset.storage.topic`, can be reused among connectors. However, you can manually delete unused internal topics created by MSK Connect. The internal topics are named following the format `__amazon_msk_connect_<offsets|status|configs>_{{connector_name}}_{{connector_id}}`.

  The regular expression `__amazon_msk_connect_<offsets|status|configs>_{{connector_name}}_{{connector_id}}` can be used to delete the internal topics. You should not delete an internal topic that is currently in use by a running connector.
+ **Using the same name for the internal topics created by MSK Connect** – If you want to reuse the offset storage topic to consume offsets from a previously created connector, you must give the new connector the same name as the old connector. The `offset.storage.topic` property can be set using the worker configuration to assign the same name to the `offset.storage.topic` and reused between different connectors. This configuration is described in [Managing connector offsets](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/msk/latest/developerguide/msk-connect-workers.html#msk-connect-create-custom-worker-config). MSK Connect does not allow different connectors to share `config.storage.topic` and `status.storage.topic`. Those topics are created each time you create a new connector in MSKC. They are automatically named following the format `__amazon_msk_connect_<status|configs>_{{connector_name}}_{{connector_id}}`, and so are different across the different connectors that you create.