Merge pull request #887 from HeidiSteen/heidist-regions

[azure search] region list cleanup

Author: prmerger-automator[bot]

articles/search/search-create-service-portal.md

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ ms.custom:
   - references_regions
   - build-2024
 ms.topic: conceptual
-ms.date: 09/19/2024
+ms.date: 10/17/2024
 ---
 
 # Create an Azure AI Search service in the portal
@@ -93,37 +93,46 @@ If you use multiple Azure services, putting all of them in the same region minim
 
 Generally, choose a region near you, unless the following considerations apply:
 
-+ Your nearest region is capacity constrained. For example, West Europe is at capacity and unavailable for new instances. Other regions are [at capacity for specific tiers](search-sku-tier.md#region-availability-by-tier). One advantage to using the Azure portal for resource setup is that it provides only those regions and tiers that are available.
-
-+ You want to use integrated data chunking and vectorization or built-in skills for AI enrichment. Azure OpenAI and Azure AI services multiservice accounts must be in the same region as Azure AI Search for integration purposes. [Choose a region](search-region-support.md) that provides all necessary resources.
++ Your nearest region is [at capacity for specific tiers or all tiers](search-sku-tier.md#region-availability-by-tier). One advantage to using the Azure portal for resource setup is that it provides only those regions and tiers that are available.
 
 + You want to use Azure Storage for indexer-based indexing or you need to store application data that isn't in an index. Debug session state, enrichment caches, and knowledge stores are Azure AI Search features that have a dependency on Azure Storage. The region you choose for Azure Storage has implications for network security. Specifically, if you're setting up a firewall, you should place the resources in separate regions. For more information, see [Outbound connections from Azure AI Search to Azure Storage](search-indexer-securing-resources.md).
 
-Here's a checklist for choosing a region:
++ You want to use integrated data chunking and vectorization or built-in skills for AI enrichment. Integrated operations require services to coexist in the same region.
+
+### Checklist for choosing a region
 
 1. Is Azure AI Search available in a nearby region? Check the [supported regions list](search-region-support.md).
 
-1. Do you know which tier you want to use? Tiers are covered in the next step. Check [region availability by tier](search-sku-tier.md#region-availability-by-tier) to determine if you can create a search service at the desired tier in your region of choice.
+1. Do you have a specific tier in mind? Tiers are covered in the next step. Check [region availability by tier](search-sku-tier.md#region-availability-by-tier) for tier restrictions.
+
+1. Do you have business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) requirements? Create two or more search services in [regional pairs](/azure/availability-zones/cross-region-replication-azure#azure-paired-regions) within [availability zones](search-reliability.md#availability-zones). For example, if you're operating in North America, you might choose East US and West US, or North Central US and South Central US, for each search service.
+
+1. Do you need [AI enrichment](cognitive-search-concept-intro.md), [integrated data chunking and vectorization](vector-search-integrated-vectorization.md), or [multimodal image search](search-get-started-portal-image-search.md)? Azure AI Search, Azure OpenAI, and Azure AI multiservice must coexist in the same region.
 
-1. Do you need [AI enrichment](cognitive-search-concept-intro.md) or [integrated data chunking and vectorization](vector-search-integrated-vectorization.md)? Verify that Azure OpenAI and Azure AI multiservice are [offered in the same region](search-region-support.md) as Azure AI Search. 
+   + Start with [Azure OpenAI regions](/azure/ai-services/openai/concepts/models#model-summary-table-and-region-availability) because it has the most variability. Azure OpenAI provides embedding models and chat models for RAG and vector search for integrated data chunking and vectorization. 
 
-   Be aware that Azure AI Vision multimodal embeddings API, used for [integrated image vectorization](search-get-started-portal-image-search.md), must be accessed through an Azure AI multiservice account, but is available in a [smaller subset of regions](/azure/ai-services/computer-vision/overview-image-analysis#region-availability).
+   + Check [Azure AI Search regions](search-region-support.md) for a match to your Azure OpenAI region. If you're using OCR, entity recognition, or other skills backed by Azure AI, the **AI Integration** column indicates whether Azure AI multiservice is in the same region as Azure AI Search.
 
-1. Do you have business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) requirements? Such requirements dictate creating multiple search services in [regional pairs](/azure/availability-zones/cross-region-replication-azure#azure-paired-regions) in [availability zones](search-reliability.md#availability-zones). For example, if you're operating in North America, you might choose East US and West US, or North Central US and South Central US, for each search service.
+   + Check [multimodal embedding regions](/azure/ai-services/computer-vision/overview-image-analysis#region-availability) if you want  multimodal APIs for image search. This API is accessed through an Azure AI multiservice account, but it's available in fewer regions than Azure AI multiservice in general.
+
+### Regions with the most overlap
+
+Currently, the following regions offer cross-region among all three services (Azure AI Search, Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Vision multimodal). This list isn't definitive, and there might be more choices beyond the regions listed here depending on the tier. Also, region status can change quickly, so be sure to confirm region choice before installing.
+
++ Americas: West US
++ Europe: France Central, North Europe, Sweden Central
 
 ## Choose a tier
 
 Azure AI Search is offered in [multiple pricing tiers](https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/search/): Free, Basic, Standard, or Storage Optimized. Each tier has its own [capacity and limits](search-limits-quotas-capacity.md). There are also several features that are tier-dependent.
 
-Review the [tier descriptions](search-sku-tier.md) for computing characteristics and [feature availability](search-sku-tier.md#feature-availability-by-tier).
+Review the [tier descriptions](search-sku-tier.md) for computing characteristics, [feature availability](search-sku-tier.md#feature-availability-by-tier), and [region availability](search-sku-tier.md#region-availability-by-tier).
 
 Basic and Standard are the most common choices for production workloads, but many customers start with the Free service. Among the billable tiers, key differences are partition size and speed, and limits on the number of objects you can create.
 
 :::image type="content" source="media/search-create-service-portal/select-pricing-tier.png" lightbox="media/search-create-service-portal/select-pricing-tier.png" alt-text="Screenshot of Select a pricing tier page." border="true":::
 
-Search services created after April 3, 2024 have larger partitions and higher vector quotas.
-
-Currently, some regions are tier-constrained. For more information, see [region availability by tier](search-sku-tier.md#region-availability-by-tier).
+Search services created after April 3, 2024 have larger partitions and higher vector quotas at every billable tier.
 
 Remember, a pricing tier can't be changed once the service is created. If you need a higher or lower tier, you should re-create the service.
 

articles/search/search-get-started-portal-image-search.md

@@ -22,11 +22,9 @@ Sample data consists of image files in the [azure-search-sample-data](https://gi
 
 + An Azure subscription. [Create one for free](https://azure.microsoft.com/free/).
 
-+ An [Azure AI services multiservice account](/azure/ai-services/multi-service-resource) to use for image vectorization and optical character recognition (OCR). The account must be in a region that provides Azure AI Vision multimodal embeddings.
++ An [Azure AI services multiservice account](/azure/ai-services/multi-service-resource) to use for image vectorization and optical character recognition (OCR). Image vectorization requires Azure AI Vision multimodal embeddings. [Check the documentation](/azure/ai-services/computer-vision/overview-image-analysis#region-availability) for an updated list of regions.
 
-  Currently, those regions are: EastUS, WestUS, WestUS2, NorthEurope, WestEurope, FranceCentral, SwedenCentral, SwitzerlandNorth, SoutheastAsia, KoreaCentral, AustraliaEast, JapanEast. [Check the documentation](/azure/ai-services/computer-vision/overview-image-analysis#region-availability) for an updated list.
-
-+ Azure AI Search for indexing and queries. It can be on any tier, but it must be in the same region as Azure AI services.
++ Azure AI Search for indexing and queries. It can be on any tier, but it must be in the [same region as Azure AI multiservice](search-create-service-portal.md#regions-with-the-most-overlap).
 
   The service tier determines how many blobs you can index. We used the Free tier to create this walkthrough and limited the content to 10 JPG files.
 

articles/search/search-get-started-portal-import-vectors.md

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ ms.service: azure-ai-search
 ms.custom:
   - build-2024
 ms.topic: quickstart
-ms.date: 10/16/2024
+ms.date: 10/17/2024
 ---
 
 # Quickstart: Vectorize text and images by using the Azure portal
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ Key points about the wizard:
 
   Azure Storage must be a standard performance (general-purpose v2) account. Access tiers can be hot, cool, and cold.
 
-+ An embedding model on an Azure AI platform. [Deployment instructions](#set-up-embedding-models) are in this article.
++ An embedding model on an Azure AI platform in the [same region as Azure AI Search](search-create-service-portal.md#regions-with-the-most-overlap). [Deployment instructions](#set-up-embedding-models) are in this article.
 
   | Provider | Supported models |
   |---|---|

articles/search/search-region-support.md

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ ms.author: heidist
 ms.service: azure-ai-search
 ms.topic: conceptual
 ms.custom: references_regions
-ms.date: 09/29/2024
+ms.date: 10/17/2024
 
 ---
 
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ You can create an Azure AI Search resource in any of the following Azure public
 | East US 2 ​ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
 | ​Central US​​ <sup>2</sup> | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
 | North Central US​ ​ | ✅ | ✅ | |
-| South Central US​ <sup>2</sup>​ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
+| South Central US​ <sup>1</sup>​ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
 | West US​ ​ | ✅ | ✅ | |
 | West US 2​ ​ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
 | West US 3​ <sup>1</sup>​ | ✅ | ✅ |✅ |
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ You can create an Azure AI Search resource in any of the following Azure public
 | Australia Southeast​​​ |  | ✅ |  |
 | East Asia​ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
 | Southeast Asia​ ​ ​ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
-| Central India| ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
+| Central India <sup>1</sup> | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
 | Jio India West​ ​ | ✅ | ✅ |  |
 | South India <sup>2</sup> |  | | ✅ |
 | Japan East <sup>1</sup> | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |

articles/search/search-sku-tier.md

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ author: HeidiSteen
 ms.author: heidist
 ms.service: azure-ai-search
 ms.topic: conceptual
-ms.date: 09/19/2024
+ms.date: 10/17/2024
 
 ---
 
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ Currently, several regions are at capacity for specific tiers and can't be used
 | Region | Disabled tier (SKU) due to over-capacity |
 |--------|------------------------------------------|
 | Central US | S2, S3, S3HD, L1, L2 |
+| Central India | S2, S3, S3HD, L1, L2|
 | East US| All tiers|
 | Japan East | S2, S3, S3HD, L1, L2 |
 | Qatar Central | All tiers|

articles/search/search-try-for-free.md

@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ The [Azure portal](https://portal.azure.com/) is the easiest approach for first-
      We recommend Basic for larger data files and more indexes, or Free if your files are less than 50 MB. Basic has more features and storage, but it's billable for the lifetime of the service and it might consume about one third of your available credits if you retain it for the entire trial period.
 
 > [!TIP]
-> Azure AI Search and Azure OpenAI must be in the same region. Currently, these regions provide the most overlap and capacity: **East US**, **East US2**, and **South Central** in the Americas; **France Central** or **Switzerland North** in Europe; **Australia East** in Asia Pacific.
+> Azure AI Search and Azure OpenAI must be in the [same region](search-create-service-portal.md#regions-with-the-most-overlap).
 
 ## Step three: Have a plan for next steps
 

articles/search/tutorial-rag-build-solution-models.md

@@ -48,12 +48,10 @@ If you don't have an Azure subscription, create a [free account](https://azure.m
 
   - [Azure AI Studio](/azure/ai-studio/reference/region-support) regions. 
 
-  Azure AI Search is currently facing limited availability in some regions, such as West Europe and West US 2/3. To confirm region status, check the [Azure AI Search region list](search-region-support.md).
+  Azure AI Search is currently facing limited availability in some regions. To confirm region status, check the [Azure AI Search region list](search-region-support.md).
 
 > [!TIP]
-> Currently, the following regions provide the most overlap among the model providers and have the most capacity: **East US2** and **South Central** in the Americas; **France Central** or **Switzerland North** in Europe; **Australia East** in Asia Pacific.
->
-> For Azure AI Vision and AI Search interoperability, choose one of these regions: **France Central**, **Korea Central**, **North Europe**, **South East Asia**, or **West US**. 
+> Check [this article](search-create-service-portal.md#regions-with-the-most-overlap) for a list of overlapping regions.
 
 ## Review models supporting built-in vectorization