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With so many data store options in Azure — relational SQL, NoSQL, document databases, blob storage, key-value stores, and more — how do you choose the right one for your workload? In this episode, Chris Reddington is joined by Steph Martin to explore the concept of polyglot persistence and the trade-offs between data store types. From Azure SQL and Cosmos DB to blob storage and microservices data patterns, they discuss how workload requirements, access patterns, RTO/RPO targets, and application architecture should guide your data platform decisions. A practical guide for architects and developers navigating the modern data landscape on Azure.

Game streaming and esports have transformed gaming from a private pastime into a global spectator sport, with cloud infrastructure at the heart of that transformation. Chris is joined by Lee Williams to explore how platforms like Twitch and YouTube Gaming have built entire business ecosystems around low-latency live content delivery, the community dynamics that make streaming sticky, and where AR and VR technology will take esports spectatorship next.

In this episode, Chris Reddington is joined by Melissa Jerkoys — technologist, co-founder of Diversify Thinking, and advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion in tech. Melissa shares her 25-year journey from engineer to leader, the barriers underrepresented groups face in technology careers, and why a diverse team is not just the right thing to do — it is a critical driver of startup and enterprise success.

Inspired by the recent episode with Annie Talvasto, I wanted to put together a blog post that will introduce an ongoing series on Cloud With Chris. Before we introduce that series though, it's important that we first introduce the Cloud Native Compute Foundation (more commonly known as CNCF).

In the first tech-only episode of the new alternating format, Chris demonstrates GitHub Copilot's Technical Preview using Ruby and Python — from API integrations and regex generation to Azure Functions and IoT Hub messaging — and discusses the FAQ around code ownership, training data, and personal information filtering. The episode also covers CNCF fundamentals, Azure API Management policies with JWT token validation, Traefik proxy on Kubernetes, and the general availability of Azure Arc, including Azure SQL enabled by Arc.

In this episode, Chris is joined by Mert Yeter — software architect, Azure MVP, and Traefik Ambassador — for a live-demo-driven tour of DevOps on Azure. Starting with Azure DevOps Starter, Mert walks through spinning up a full CI/CD pipeline for a containerized .NET application in just a few clicks, covering Azure Container Registry, Azure Container Instances, and Azure Kubernetes Service. The session then dives into Traefik: an open-source cloud-native reverse proxy and load balancer with powerful pluggable middleware, dynamic service discovery, and a rich dashboard for managing Kubernetes ingresses. Whether you are new to containers or looking to level up your AKS deployments, this episode covers the essential building blocks.

In this session, Chris will discuss some of the fundamental concepts of the Cloud and Azure, and providing an introductory walkthrough of the Azure Portal.

The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) gave us Kubernetes and Prometheus — but did you know there are over 90 more projects in the ecosystem? In this episode, Chris is joined by Annie Talvasto (CNCF/Kubernetes meetup organizer, Finland) to explore the most exciting CNCF projects across sandbox, incubating, and graduated tiers. They cover Helm for Kubernetes package management, Artifact Hub for centralised artifact discovery, Linkerd for lightweight service mesh with built-in observability and resilience, KUDO for declarative Kubernetes operator creation without deep Go expertise, and KEDA for event-driven autoscaling. Whether you're new to cloud native or a seasoned practitioner, this session will inspire you to explore — and contribute to — the wider CNCF landscape.

We recently introduced you to API Management, how it maps to architectural principals and why you may consider using it as a producer or consumer of APIs. In this post, we'll be continuing on the story - focusing mostly on the API Management policies functionality.

Chris combines tech updates with a Sea of Thieves gaming session alongside Cloud Family community members James Cook, Mert Ata, and Dean Ellerby. Updates cover Azure FX series VMs for HPC, NFS 3.0 for Blob Storage GA, JBoss on App Service, Azure VM Image Builder GA, plus GitHub and Azure DevOps community roundups.