Feature Request to support Kraft based (zookeeper-less) Kafka infrastructure in Apache Storm

We are using multiple Apache projects including prominent ones like kafka and storm in our org, thanks to ASF for that!

We want to upgrade to Latest LTS of OpenJDK 21 (currently on 1.8) in all our projects which are tightly coupled with each other, as we use to publish internal maven dependencies to be used in our other projects. Now, as of mid-2025, Apache Kafka 4.0.0 is available which has discontinued the use of zookeeper and uses Kraft mode only.

But the latest Apache Storm 2.8.1 is still reliant on **zookeeper**.

Therefore, we wanted to request a new feature in Apache Storm that supports the latest Kraft based kafka infrastructure. Or if we are mistaken fundamentally, please let us know if that is not possible in the near or distant future.

The issue names no files, tests, or entry points. Start by locating Apache Storm's Kafka integration and its ZooKeeper dependency, then compare the current integration with Kafka 4.0.0's KRaft-only infrastructure; done means a defined, tested path for Storm to support that deployment model.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.