Azure Redis Cache is the most commonly used Caching mechanism available as Platform as a Service (PaaS) in Azure. In the recent announcement, Microsoft mentioned that Azure Managed Cache and In-Role cache will be retiring on 30^th^ November 2016.
Deep dive:
Earlier Microsoft Azure AppFabric Distributed Cache service was the primary option for Caching implementations in Azure, however it is now deprecated and no longer recommended.
Redis Cache:
Redis Cache is open source Third Party service provider in Azure and it is available as Platform as a Service (PaaS). So you don't have to create VMs or configure any infrastructure components to build and utilize Redis Cache. Redis Cache is also costly Caching service compare to SQL Server option. Redis Cache have its own security layer and it is ensured to not get exposed to public networks, hence using Redis Cache for your Caching related requirements in any apps is safe. Also Redis Cache is scalable and hence very much viable solution in large enterprise applications. You can implement Redis Cache with design patterns like Circuit Breaker or Cache-Aside pattern as well.
There are three main offerings/tiers of Redis as:
Basic -- Single instance with no SLA
Standard -- Two instance with HA (High Availability) SLA
Premium -- It is designed for bigger workloads and DR (disaster recovery) with all features of Standard tier and high availability SLA
