CloudChat

Conversations about building software and designing architecture in the cloud natively.

Ep. 23 - Turbocharged: Mastering Performance in Cloud Architecture 07/07/2025

Ep. 23 - Turbocharged: Mastering Performance in Cloud Architecture Cloud performance is one of those words that everyone agrees matters, but often means different things depending on who you ask. Is it latency? Is it autoscaling? Is it picking the right SKU size? We cover the fundamentals of designing for performance in the cloud: how to select the right compute options, when to scale up or out, and what it takes to reduce latency across global workloads. We explore autoscaling strategies, observability tooling, cost tradeoffs, and real-world tuning stories—plus we wrap with a cheat sheet of optimization tools across AWS, Azure, and GCP. Performance isn’t just about throwing more cores or RAM at a problem. It’s a set of design choices you make continuously—choices that affect cost, scalability, and user experience. Use the principles and tools in your cloud provider to experiment, monitor, and improve. Producer’s note: we encountered some technical issues during recording, so apologies for the audio quality in some parts. The content is still solid, and we hope you find it valuable! Links: Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/37305790

Ep. 22 - What is Cloud Resiliency, Really? 06/02/2025

Ep. 22 - What is Cloud Resiliency, Really? Carl and Brandon break down the core concepts behind cloud resiliency, availability, reliability, and redundancy — how they relate, where they differ, and why understanding those distinctions is critical. Just because a service is “always on” doesn’t mean it’s resilient. They explore the difference between planned and unplanned outages, how graceful degradation works in practice, and why resiliency is measured by recovery, not just uptime. It’s not just about uptime. It’s about what breaks, how you recover, and what keeps going when everything else doesn’t. They also cover the architectural side: distributed systems, zone-aware deployments, chaos testing, and recovery strategies that go beyond documentation. With real-world failure scenarios and practical planning advice, this episode helps cloud teams build for failure — before it happens. Links: Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/36813980

Ep. 21 - The 9 Circles of Dependency Hell 🔥 05/05/2025

Ep. 21 - The 9 Circles of Dependency Hell 🔥 Carl and Brandon descend into the fiery depths of Dependency Hell, exploring nine common (and painful) challenges that plague developers working in modern cloud environments. From version mismatches to licensing traps, each “circle” offers insights, real-world examples, and actionable tips for escaping the chaos. If you’ve ever watched a cloud deployment crash because of a transitive dependency or scrambled to patch a vulnerability from three layers down in your stack, this episode is for you. Links Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/36434250

Ep. 20 - The 3 M's of Going to the Cloud 04/07/2025

Ep. 20 - The 3 M's of Going to the Cloud If you’ve been thinking of moving to the cloud, or are in the first steps of your journey, Carl and Brandon cover the 3 M’s of going to the cloud: Migrate, Modernize, and Manage. The hosts cover key points in planning your move, including analyzing and taking inventory if your current on-premises environment, multiple cloud provider options, and the importance of understanding your technical needs based on possibly hidden dependencies in your solution, and starting to think about Day 2 Operations. Sharing real world experience of their own journeys, this episode will give you a lot to think about as you and your team plan the next steps in your journey. Links Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/36033015

Ep. 19 - All Your Data Are Belong to Us 03/03/2025

Ep. 19 - All Your Data Are Belong to Us In this episode, Carl and Brandon deep dive into the world of data storage in the cloud! With numerous options, different paradigms, and a plethora of scenarios to consider, they discuss the pros and cons of each. They also touch on some “non-traditional” data storage options, such as using an in-memory cache as your primary database. Are you a polyglot database user? Do you have a favorite database that you use no matter what the scenario is? Join us to hear the discussion on both sides of the issue! Links Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/35507825

Ep. 18 - We Can Hardly Contain Ourselves! 02/03/2025

Ep. 18 - We Can Hardly Contain Ourselves! In today’s episode, Carl and Brandon dive deep into container technology. They cover everything from the container file to orchestrating containers on a cloud platform. Furthermore, Carl and Brandon discuss how Docker is not the end-all-be-all of container technology, and options that you have to use instead of Docker. If you want to learn more about what containers are, how they work, why you would want to use them, and how they apply to more than just the cloud, this is the episode for you! Links Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/35124665

Ep. 17 - The Source is with Us 01/06/2025

Ep. 17 - The Source is with Us In this episode, Carl and Brandon speak with Brian Munzenmayer, who shares his extensive experience in the open-source community. Brian discusses his journey from fixing simple typos in documentation to becoming a key maintainer of a large open source website that you’ve probably used. The discussion delves into the importance of community engagement in open-source projects, the spectrum of contributions, and the various roles individuals can play, from coding to organizing and managing projects. Brian also touches on the challenges of maintaining open-source projects, including the risk of burnout and the need for sustainable practices. The episode also explores the broader impact of open-source software on the tech industry, highlighting how contributions can influence major projects and even corporate products. Brian emphasizes the value of open-source work in professional development and the importance of fostering inclusive and collaborative environments. The episode concludes with insights into the future of open-source software and the ongoing need for community-driven innovation. And of course, we have to mention that Brian is the author of, which is available now for purchase! Links Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/34731650

Ep. 16 - Control All the Things! 🛩️ 12/02/2024

Ep. 16 - Control All the Things! 🛩️ In this episode, Carl and Brandon dive into the world of control planes, starting with what they are and how they differ from other planes you may see in your solutions and the providers they run on. They chat about the balance between automation and manual operations, and share examples from popular cloud services and technologies like Kubernetes, AWS, and Azure. Then, they explore the key functions of a control plane, such as resource management, policy enforcement, and tenant, security, monitoring, and configuration management. Carl and Brandon also take a closer look at control planes in Kubernetes, explaining the roles of components like the API server, etcd, controller manager, and scheduler, and how they work together to manage clusters. Finally, they discuss the challenges and benefits of deploying and managing control planes across multiple cloud providers, and share best practices for keeping things consistent in multi-cloud and hybrid environments. Links Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/34225615

Ep. 15 - Dude, Where's My Server? 11/04/2024

Ep. 15 - Dude, Where's My Server? Today, Carl and Brandon cover a comprehensive overview of serverless computing, starting with its importance and benefits. We explain the serverless model, highlighting the differences between serverless and traditional computing, and addresses common misconceptions. The Big Three Cloud provider offerings are covered, including Azure Functions, AWS Lambda, and Google Cloud Run. Each service is explored, with real-world use cases, key features, and best practices for building and deploying serverless functions. We also delve into the challenges and considerations of serverless computing, such as cold start latency, security concerns, and vendor lock-in. The discussion concludes with predictions for the future of serverless computing, including emerging trends, the rise of multi-cloud strategies, how AI may change the game, and the increasing focus on security and compliance. Links Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/33770542

Ep. 14 - Smooooth Operator: Configuring Your Architecture 🛠️ 10/07/2024

Ep. 14 - Smooooth Operator: Configuring Your Architecture 🛠️ In this episode, Carl and Brandon dive deep into the world of configuration, exploring various methods for system, app, and user-facing config. Starting with hard-coded values and whether there is ever a time for hard-coding, weighing the benefits and drawbacks. The conversation then shifts to configuration files, including web.config, app.config, and various environment-specific files such as .env files for backend and frontend uses. Carl and Brandon also explore feature flags, databases, and SaaS options for configuration, such as LaunchDarkly, and delve into DevOps patterns, including pipeline sourcing and configuration services like AWS AppConfig and Azure App Configuration. Finally, they cover secrets management with services like Azure Key Vault and AWS Key Management Service. Links Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/33351807

Ep. 13 - What is the Cloud☁️? 09/09/2024

Ep. 13 - What is the Cloud☁️? Carl and Brandon delve into the fundamentals of cloud computing, exploring its definition, history, key components, and the various “types” of clouds such as public, private, and hybrid. The hosts also highlight the numerous benefits of cloud computing, including cost efficiency, scalability, flexibility, and enhanced security. The episode also addresses common challenges like security concerns, compliance issues, and managing costs, while offering insights into the future of cloud computing with emerging trends like edge computing and AI integration. Links Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/32967967

Ep. 12 - Words Mean Things 08/26/2024

Ep. 12 - Words Mean Things In our latest podcast episode, Carl and Brandon explored the fundamental aspects of cloud computing, focusing on Regions, Availability Zones, Quota, and Capacity. They discussed how regions are collections of zones, each with high-bandwidth, low-latency network connections, and the importance of deploying applications across multiple zones and regions to ensure fault tolerance and high availability. They also delved into the differences between logical and physical zones, and how regional resources can be accessed by any zone within that region. Additionally, they examined Azure’s approach to paired regions and the need for custom geo-redundant capabilities in newer regions. The conversation then shifted to the concepts of quota and capacity in cloud computing. Quotas, synonymous with limits, ensure that each service can offer a minimum amount of resources. Carl and Brandon discussed the different types of quotas, including soft limits that can be raised through support requests, and the architectural options available when more resources are needed. They highlighted the importance of diversifying resource types to overcome quota limits and enhance application resilience. Finally, they examined capacity limitations, the concept of capacity reservations in Azure, and the differences between on-demand capacity reservations and reserved instances. Links Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/32737242

Ep. 11 - m*cro-services 08/12/2024

Ep. 11 - m*cro-services Carl and Brandon delve into the fascinating world of microservices, starting with a brief introduction and a comparison to macro-services like monolithic and modular monolith architectures. We explored the evolution from monolithic architectures to microservices, highlighting the advantages such as scalability, agility, resilience, and technology diversity. We also discussed the granular scalability of individual services, the independent development and deployment of services, and the use of different technologies for each service. However, we didn’t shy away from the challenges, addressing the increased complexity, operational overhead, and resource consumption associated with managing distributed systems. Links Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/32508902

Ep. 10 - Risky Bidness: Ripped from the Headlines 07/29/2024

Ep. 10 - Risky Bidness: Ripped from the Headlines In this episode, Carl and Brandon explored the recent CrowdStrike outage and the lessons to take from the event as it relates to high availability, business continuity, and disaster recovery (HA/BCDR) strategies in the cloud. The incident underscored the need for redundancy, swift response, and well-defined recovery procedures. Surprisingly, we drew parallels to the banana crisis of the 1950s. The monoculture of the Gros Michel banana left the industry vulnerable to Panama disease. The lesson? Diversity in dependencies matters—whether in tech or agriculture. Remember: HA/BCDR and diversity are key to resilience. 🎙️🍌🔒 Links: Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/32318142

Ep. 9 - Knowing Your (Cloud) Tools 07/15/2024

Ep. 9 - Knowing Your (Cloud) Tools In this episode, we delve into the world of “Cloud Tooling”. We explore how different cloud platforms take similar approaches to tooling, with a variety of tools such as command-line interfaces (CLIs), RESTful APIs (and even gRPC), as well as programming language-specific SDKs. We discuss the spectrum of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) and Command Line Interfaces (CLIs), comparing portals, CLI, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) strategies. We also cover the differences between various Integrated Development Environments (IDEs), and the trend of living in the terminal/shell to be “leetcoderz”. The episode also touches on the increasing popularity of the shell among coders and streamers, and the importance of achieving consistent experiences with different shells. Links Shell Customizations Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/32135337

Ep. 8 - Container All the Things! 07/01/2024

Ep. 8 - Container All the Things! In this episode, Carl and Brandon delve into the world of containers, exploring their benefits and complexities. We discuss how containers compare to traditional server deployments and virtual machines, highlighting their advantages in development speed, reliable deployments, and consistency across different environments. However, we also touch on the challenges they present, such as complexity, networking, and security issues. We further explore the concept of container layers, the role of container runtimes, and the importance of container registries and orchestrators. Show links: Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/31957522

Ep. 7 - What the WASM? with Steven Murawski 06/17/2024

Ep. 7 - What the WASM? with Steven Murawski In this episode, we are joined by our first guest, Steven Murawski, a Principal Cloud Advocate at Microsoft, who provides an insightful discussion on WebAssembly (WASM) and its role in enabling interoperability across programming languages. The conversation delves into Web Assembly’s objective of creating a portable execution format for multiple languages with near-native performance, and how it is designed to create a new interface when transitioning from the browser to the server-side. We also explore how WebAssembly can be leveraged to modify application behavior by publishing interfaces for scenarios such as incoming changes, logging, or composing rule components, and the potential standalone use cases in a cloud ecosystem. We also discuss the possibilites of SDKs as wrappers around REST APIs or other shared endpoints, the role of different runtimes like wasmtime and Spin, and the concept of “worlds” in WebAssembly. We would like to extend our gratitude to Steven for joining us and sharing his valuable insights! Show links: Web Assembly System Interface (WASI) Component Model WASM Runtimes Fermyon Wasmcloud .NET DeisLabs Binding Generation Additional Learning Resources Open Source Projects Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/31768777

Ep. 6 - Who's Your Landlord? 06/03/2024

Ep. 6 - Who's Your Landlord? In this episode, Carl and Brandon discuss the many layers of tenancy within a cloud solution. From single tenant to full multitenant, there are many options to consider. Additionally, building on the past episodoes of IaC and DevOps, Carl and Brandon talk about the disciplines required to move into a modern and automated solution that can scale with your organization and its services. Show links: Landing Zones Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/31573912

Ep. 5 - Your Ops Are in My Dev 05/20/2024

Ep. 5 - Your Ops Are in My Dev In this episode, Carl and Brandon cover a wide range of topics related to DevOps, including the technical and cultural aspects of DevOps, the role of scripting and automation, DevOps tools and infrastructure, communication and teamwork, and additional points on platforms like GitHub and Jira, monitoring tools, and metrics reporting. Show links: Tooling Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/31377582

Ep. 4 - From Portal to Code 05/06/2024

Ep. 4 - From Portal to Code Following the conversation on Deployment Stamps, Carl and Brandon dive into the concepts of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and its applications in cloud computing. The hosts discuss the benefits of using IaC, including version control and transparency in infrastructure deployment, making it easier to understand what has been built and why. They also highlight the importance of governance, such as naming conventions, in IaC, as this can make it easier to find resources later on. Carl and Brandon cover both first and third-party IaC frameworks, as well as pros and cons of each. Show links: IaC Frameworks First-Party (Cloud Provider-Specifid) Third Party (Cloud Agnostic) Other Links of Interest Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/31137788

Ep. 3 - Paying Forward the Postage 04/22/2024

Ep. 3 - Paying Forward the Postage Carl and Brandon discuss the Deployment Stamp pattern and how it can improve your efficiency in the cloud. Create reproducible deployments across multiple environments, save on costs, and scale dynamically to meet demand. Show links: Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/30926758

Ep. 2 - Agile Hobbies 04/08/2024

Ep. 2 - Agile Hobbies Carl shares his journey of transitioning a 20-year-old hobby project into a robust app, highlighting the importance of modern software development practices. The hosts discuss version control, formatting, and the concept of cloud readiness, emphasizing their relevance in both professional and personal cloud-based development. Show links: Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/30721958

Ep. 1 - aaS's of the Cloud 03/25/2024

Ep. 1 - aaS's of the Cloud In this episode, Carl and Brandon discuss the various "as a Service" models, including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), and Containers as a Service (CaaS). They explore the differences between these models and how they can be used to build and maintain cloud solutions. The hosts also discuss the concept of shared responsibility in the cloud and differences across the types of cloud services. Visit us at: /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/30528178

Ep. 0 - Hello World! 03/08/2024

Ep. 0 - Hello World! Welcome to episode ZERO of CloudChat! Introducing the best bi-weekly [whatever that means] podcast that covers cloud-focused software and architectural discussions. Stay up to date with the latest and greatest in the cloud from Carl and Brandon and soak in the great discussions on all the classic design patterns that are still tried and true. /episode/index/show/dfd84fca-7055-4605-98ce-3b0f8cbd6e15/id/30285583

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