Which timestamp is restored?

When a Restore writes records back to Kafka, it preserves each record’s original timestamp rather than stamping it with the current time.

This means the restored records keep their CreateTime, exactly as it was when they were first produced. Time-based processing, retention, and downstream consumers therefore see the same timestamps they would have seen on the source topic.

See Restoring data from a backup for a full walkthrough.

Note

For Armory to set the original timestamp, the target topic must use the CreateTime message timestamp type (the Kafka default). If the topic is configured with LogAppendTime, the broker overrides every record’s timestamp with the time it was appended, and the original timestamp is lost.

If you need to change the timestamp during a restore rather than keep the original, you can write a custom restore plugin. Armory supports a plugin system that lets you transform records as they are restored.