updated article and TOC

Author: MGoedtel

articles/aks/TOC.yml

@@ -11,8 +11,14 @@
     - name: Add-ons, extensions, and other integrations
       href: integrations.md
       displayName: add-on, extensions, prometheus, grafana, openfaas, spark, istio, linkerd, consul, github, actions
-    - name: Solution architectures
-      href: /azure/architecture/reference-architectures/containers/aks-start-here?bc=/azure/aks/breadcrumb/toc.json&toc=/azure/aks/toc.json?WT.mc_id=AKSDOCSTOC
+    - name: Getting started
+      items:
+        - name: Architecture design recommendations
+          href: /azure/architecture/framework/services/compute/azure-kubernetes-service/azure-kubernetes-service
+        - name: Plan your implementation
+          href: /azure/architecture/reference-architectures/containers/aks-start-here?bc=/azure/aks/breadcrumb/toc.json&toc=/azure/aks/toc.json?WT.mc_id=AKSDOCSTOC
+        - name: Optimize costs
+          href: best-practices-cost.md
 - name: Quickstarts
   expanded: true
   items:

articles/aks/best-practices-cost.md

@@ -3,17 +3,13 @@ title: Optimize Costs in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
 titleSuffix: Azure Kubernetes Service
 description: Recommendations for reducing costs in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).
 ms.topic: conceptual
-ms.date: 04/11/2023
+ms.date: 04/13/2023
 
 ---
 
 # Optimize costs in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
 
-Cost optimization is about understanding your different configuration options and recommended best practices to reduce unnecessary expenses and improve operational efficiencies. Before you follow the guidance in this article, we recommend you review the following resources:
-
-* [Cost optimization design principles](/azure/architecture/framework/cost/principles).
-* [How pricing and cost management work in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) compared to Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS)](/azure/architecture/aws-professional/eks-to-aks/cost-management).
-* If you are running AKS on-premises or at the edge, [Azure Hybrid Benefit](/windows-server/get-started/azure-hybrid-benefit) can also be used to further reduce costs when running containerized applications in those scenarios.
+Cost optimization is about understanding your different configuration options and recommended best practices to reduce unnecessary expenses and improve operational efficiencies. Before you use this article, you should see the [cost optimization section](/azure/architecture/framework/services/compute/azure-kubernetes-service/azure-kubernetes-service#cost-optimization) in the Azure Well-Architected Framework.
 
 When discussing cost optimization with Azure Kubernetes Service, it's important to distinguish between *cost of cluster resources* and *cost of workload resources*. Cluster resources are a shared responsibility between the cluster admin and their resource provider, while workload resources are the domain of a developer. Azure Kubernetes Service has considerations and recommendations for both of these roles.
 
@@ -35,22 +31,15 @@ Explore the following table of recommendations to optimize your AKS configuratio
 
 | Recommendation | Benefit |
 |----------------------------------|-----------|
-|**Cluster and workload architectures:** Align SKU selection and managed disk size with workload requirements.|Matching your selection to your workload demands ensures you don't pay for unneeded resources.|
-|**Cluster and workload architectures:** Adopt a cloud financial discipline and cultural practice to drive ownership of cloud usage. | The foundation of enabling cost optimization is the spread of a cost saving cluster. A [financial operations approach (FinOps)](https://www.finops.org/introduction/what-is-finops/) is often used to help organizations reduce cloud costs. It is a practice involving collaboration between finance, operations, and engineering teams to drive alignment on cost saving goals and bring transparency to cloud costs.|
-|**Cluster architecture:** Cost visibility by measuring container costs and resource allocation.|[OpenCost](https://www.opencost.io/docs/) introduces a new [community-driven specification](https://github.com/opencost/opencost/blob/develop/spec/opencost-specv01.md) and accompanying implementation to bring greater visibility into current and historic Kubernetes spend and resource allocation. OpenCost is an open-source, vendor-neutral [CNCF sandbox project](https://www.cncf.io/sandbox-projects/) that recently became a [FinOps Certified Solution](https://www.finops.org/certifications/finops-certified-solution/).|
-|**Cluster architecture:** Utilize AKS cluster pre-set configurations. | It can be difficult choosing the right VM instance, region, number of nodes, availability zones, etc. when trying to strike a balance between cost and resource requirements. From the Azure portal, the **cluster preset configurations** option helps offload this initial challenge by providing a set of recommended configurations that are cost-conscious and performant regardless of environment. Mission critical applications may require more sophisticated VM instances, while small development and test clusters may benefit from the lighter-weight, pre-set options where availability, Azure Monitor, Azure Policy, and other features are turned off by default. The **Dev/Test** and **Cost-optimized** pre-sets help remove unnecessary added costs.|
 |**Cluster and workload architectures:** Use the [Start and Stop feature](start-stop-cluster.md) in Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS).|The AKS Stop and Start cluster feature allows AKS customers to pause an AKS cluster, saving time and cost. The stop and start feature keeps cluster configurations in place and customers can pick up where they left off without reconfiguring the clusters.|
 |**Workload architecture:** Consider using [Azure Spot VMs](spot-node-pool.md) for workloads that can handle interruptions, early terminations, and evictions.|For example, workloads such as batch processing jobs, development and testing environments, and large compute workloads may be good candidates for you to schedule on a spot node pool. Using spot VMs for nodes with your AKS cluster allows you to take advantage of unused capacity in Azure at a significant cost savings.|
 |**Cluster architecture:** Enforce [resource quotas](operator-best-practices-scheduler.md) at the namespace level.|Resource quotas provide a way to reserve and limit resources across a development team or project. These quotas are defined on a namespace and can be used to set quotas on compute resources, storage resources, and object counts. When you define resource quotas, all pods created in the namespace must provide limits or requests in their pod specifications.|
 |**Workload architecture:** Use the [Horizontal Pod Autoscaler](concepts-scale.md#horizontal-pod-autoscaler).|Adjust the number of pods in a deployment depending on CPU utilization or other select metrics, which support cluster scale-in operations.|
 |**Workload architecture:** Use [Vertical Pod Autoscaler](vertical-pod-autoscaler.md) (preview).|Rightsize your pods and dynamically set [requests and limits](developer-best-practices-resource-management.md#define-pod-resource-requests-and-limits) based on historic usage.|
 |**Workload architecture:** Use [Kubernetes Event Driven Autoscaling](keda-about.md) (KEDA).|Scale based on the number of events being processed. Choose from a rich catalogue of 50+ KEDA scalers.|
-|**Cluster architecture:** Select the right virtual machine instance type. |Selecting the right virtual machine instance type is critical as it directly impacts the cost of running applications on AKS. Choosing a high-performance instance without proper utilization can lead to wasteful spending, while choosing a powerful instance can lead to performance issues and increased downtime. To determine the right virtual machine instance type, consider workload characteristics, resource requirements, and availability needs.|
 |**Cluster architecture:** Enable [cluster autoscaler](cluster-autoscaler.md) to automatically reduce the number of agent nodes in response to excess resource capacity. |Automatically scale down the number of nodes in your AKS cluster lets you run an efficient cluster when demand is low, scale up when demand returns.|
 |**Cluster architecture:** Configure monitoring of cluster with [Container insights](../azure-monitor/containers/container-insights-overview.md). | Container insights help provides actionable insights into your clusters idle and unallocated resources. Container insights also supports collecting Prometheus metrics and integrates with Azure Managed Grafana to get a holistic view of your application and infrastructure.|
-|**Cluster architecture:** Select the appropriate region. |Due to many factors, cost of resources varies per region in Azure. Evaluate the cost, latency, and compliance requirements to ensure you are running your workload cost-effectively and it doesn't affect your end-users or create extra networking charges.|
 |**Cluster architecture:** Sign up for [Azure Reservations](../cost-management-billing/reservations/save-compute-costs-reservations.md). | If you properly planned for capacity, your workload is predictable and exists for an extended period of time, sign up for [Azure Reserved Instances]() to further reduce your resource costs.|
-|**Workload architecture:** Maintain small and optimized images.|Streamlining your images helps reduce costs since new nodes need to download these images. Build images that allows the container start as soon as possible to help avoid user request failures or timeouts while the application is starting up, potentially leading to overprovisioning.|
 |**Cluster architecture:** Use Kubernetes [Resource Quotas](operator-best-practices-scheduler.md#enforce-resource-quotas). | Resource quotas can be used to limit resource consumption for each namespace in your cluster, and by extension resource utilization for the Azure service.|
 
 For more suggestions, see [Principles of the cost optimization pillar](/azure/architecture/framework/cost/overview).