Merge pull request #266645 from ankitaduttaMSFT/nextsteps

streamline next steps 2

Author: AnnaMHuff

articles/site-recovery/avs-tutorial-replication.md

@@ -205,7 +205,4 @@ Enable replication for VMs as follows:
 
 ## Next step
 
-After you enable replication, run a drill to make sure that everything works as expected.
-
-> [!div class="nextstepaction"]
-> [Run a disaster recovery drill](avs-tutorial-dr-drill-azure.md)
+After you enable replication, [run a disaster recovery drill](avs-tutorial-dr-drill-azure.md) to make sure that everything works as expected.

articles/site-recovery/azure-stack-site-recovery.md

@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 ---
-title: Replicate Azure Stack VMs to Azure using Azure Site Recovery | Microsoft Docs
+title: Replicate Azure Stack VMs to Azure using Azure Site Recovery
 description: Learn how to set up disaster recovery to Azure for Azure Stack VMs with the Azure Site Recovery service.
 ms.topic: conceptual
-ms.date: 10/02/2021
+ms.date: 02/20/2024
 ms.author: ankitadutta
 ms.custom: engagement-fy23
 ms.service: site-recovery
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ With these steps complete, you can then run a full failover to Azure as and when
 
 **Location** | **Component** |**Details**
 --- | --- | ---
-**Configuration server** | Runs on a single Azure Stack VM. | In each subscription you set up a configuration server VM. This VM runs the following Site Recovery components:<br/><br/> - Configuration server: Coordinates communications between on-premises and Azure, and manages data replication. - Process server: Acts as a replication gateway. It receives replication data, optimizes with caching, compression, and encryption; and sends it to Azure storage.<br/><br/> If VMs you want to replicate exceed the limits stated below, you can set up a separate standalone process server. [Learn more](vmware-azure-set-up-process-server-scale.md).
+**Configuration server** | Runs on a single Azure Stack VM. | In each subscription you set up a configuration server VM. This VM runs the following Site Recovery components:<br/><br/> - **Configuration server**: Coordinates communications between on-premises and Azure, and manages data replication. <br> <br> - **Process server**: Acts as a replication gateway. It receives replication data, optimizes with caching, compression, and encryption; and sends it to Azure storage.<br/><br/> If VMs you want to replicate exceed the limits stated below, you can set up a separate standalone process server. [Learn more](vmware-azure-set-up-process-server-scale.md).
 **Mobility service** | Installed on each VM you want to replicate. | In the steps in this article, we prepare an account so that the Mobility service is installed automatically on a VM when replication is enabled. If you don't want to install the service automatically, there are a number of other methods you can use. [Learn more](vmware-azure-install-mobility-service.md).
 **Azure** | In Azure you need a Recovery Services vault, a storage account, and a virtual network. |  Replicated data is stored in the storage account. Azure VMs are added to the Azure network when failover occurs.
 
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ Replication works as follows:
 1. In the vault, you specify the replication source and target, set up the configuration server, create a replication policy, and enable replication.
 2. The Mobility service is installed on the machine (if you've used push installation), and machines begin replication in accordance with the replication policy.
 3. An initial copy of the server data is replicated to Azure storage.
-4. After initial replication finishes, replication of delta changes to Azure begins. Tracked changes for a machine are held in a .hrl file.
+4. After initial replication finishes, replication of delta changes to Azure begins. Tracked changes for a machine are held in an .hrl file.
 5. The configuration server orchestrates replication management with Azure (port HTTPS 443 outbound).
 6. The process server receives data from source machines, optimizes and encrypts it, and sends it to Azure storage (port 443 outbound).
 7. Replicated machines communicate with the configuration server (port HTTPS 443 inbound, for replication management. Machines send replication data to the process server (port HTTPS 9443 inbound - can be modified).
@@ -323,4 +323,4 @@ In this article we replicated Azure Stack VMs to Azure. With replication in plac
 
 ## Next steps
 
-After failing back, you can reprotect the VM and start replicating it to Azure again To do this, repeat the steps in this article.
+After failing back, you can reprotect the VM and start replicating it to Azure again. To do this, repeat the steps in this article.

articles/site-recovery/azure-to-azure-architecture.md

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ author: ankitaduttaMSFT
 # Azure to Azure disaster recovery architecture
 
 
-This article describes the architecture, components, and processes used when you deploy disaster recovery for Azure virtual machines (VMs)  using the [Azure Site Recovery](site-recovery-overview.md) service. With disaster recovery set up, Azure VMs continuously replicate to a different target region. If an outage occurs, you can fail over VMs to the secondary region, and access them from there. When everything's running normally again, you can fail back and continue working in the primary location.
+This article describes the architecture, components, and processes used when you deploy disaster recovery for Azure virtual machines (VMs)  using the [Azure Site Recovery](site-recovery-overview.md) service. With disaster recovery setup, Azure VMs continuously replicate to a different target region. If an outage occurs, you can fail over VMs to the secondary region, and access them from there. When everything's running normally again, you can fail back and continue working in the primary location.
 
 
 
@@ -24,10 +24,10 @@ The components involved in disaster recovery for Azure VMs are summarized in the
 **Component** | **Requirements**
 --- | ---
 **VMs in source region** | One of more Azure VMs in a [supported source region](azure-to-azure-support-matrix.md#region-support).<br/><br/> VMs can be running any [supported operating system](azure-to-azure-support-matrix.md#replicated-machine-operating-systems).
-**Source VM storage** | Azure VMs can be managed, or have non-managed disks spread across storage accounts.<br/><br/>[Learn about](azure-to-azure-support-matrix.md#replicated-machines---storage) supported Azure storage.
+**Source VM storage** | Azure VMs can be managed, or have nonmanaged disks spread across storage accounts.<br/><br/>[Learn about](azure-to-azure-support-matrix.md#replicated-machines---storage) supported Azure storage.
 **Source VM networks** | VMs can be located in one or more subnets in a virtual network (VNet) in the source region. [Learn more](azure-to-azure-support-matrix.md#replicated-machines---networking) about networking requirements.
 **Cache storage account** | You need a cache storage account in the source network. During replication, VM changes are stored in the cache before being sent to target storage.  Cache storage accounts must be Standard.<br/><br/> Using a cache ensures minimal impact on production applications that are running on a VM.<br/><br/> [Learn more](azure-to-azure-support-matrix.md#cache-storage) about cache storage requirements. 
-**Target resources** | Target resources are used during replication, and when a failover occurs. Site Recovery can set up target resource by default, or you can create/customize them.<br/><br/> In the target region, check that you're able to create VMs, and that your subscription has enough resources to support VM sizes that will be needed in the target region. 
+**Target resources** | Target resources are used during replication, and when a failover occurs. Site Recovery can set up target resource by default, or you can create/customize them.<br/><br/> In the target region, check that you're able to create VMs, and that your subscription has enough resources to support VM sizes that are needed in the target region. 
 
 ![Diagram showing source and target replication.](./media/concepts-azure-to-azure-architecture/enable-replication-step-1-v2.png)
 
@@ -49,17 +49,17 @@ When you enable replication for a VM, Site Recovery gives you the option of crea
 
 You can manage target resources as follows:
 
-- You can modify target settings as you enable replication. Please note that the default SKU for the target region VM is the same as the SKU of the source VM (or the next best available SKU in comparison to the source VM SKU). The dropdown list only shows relevant SKUs of the same family as the source VM (Gen 1 or Gen 2).
-- You can modify target settings after replication is already working. Similar to other resources such as the target resource group, target name, and others, the target region VM SKU can also be updated after replication is in progress. A resource which cannot be updated is the availability type (single instance, set or zone). To change this setting, you need to disable replication, modify the setting, and then reenable. 
+- You can modify target settings as you enable replication. Note that the default SKU for the target region VM is the same as the SKU of the source VM (or the next best available SKU in comparison to the source VM SKU). The dropdown list only shows relevant SKUs of the same family as the source VM (Gen 1 or Gen 2).
+- You can modify target settings after replication is already working. Similar to other resources such as the target resource group, target name, and others, the target region VM SKU can also be updated after replication is in progress. A resource, which can't be updated is the availability type (single instance, set, or zone). To change this setting, you need to disable replication, modify the setting, and then reenable. 
 
 ## Replication policy 
 
 When you enable Azure VM replication, Site Recovery creates a new replication policy with the default settings summarized in the table, by default.
 
 **Policy setting** | **Details** | **Default**
 --- | --- | ---
-**Recovery point retention** | Specifies how long Site Recovery keeps recovery points. | 1 day
-**App-consistent snapshot frequency** | How often Site Recovery takes an app-consistent snapshot. | 0 hours (Disabled)
+**Recovery point retention** | Specifies how long Site Recovery keeps recovery points. | One day
+**App-consistent snapshot frequency** | How often Site Recovery takes an app-consistent snapshot. | Zero hours (Disabled)
 
 ### Managing replication policies
 
@@ -95,13 +95,13 @@ The following table explains different types of consistency.
 
 **Description** | **Details** | **Recommendation**
 --- | --- | ---
-A crash consistent snapshot captures data that was on the disk when the snapshot was taken. It doesn't include anything in memory.<br/><br/> It contains the equivalent of the on-disk data that would be present if the VM crashed or the power cord was pulled from the server at the instant that the snapshot was taken.<br/><br/> A crash-consistent doesn't guarantee data consistency for the operating system, or for apps on the VM. | Site Recovery creates crash-consistent recovery points every five minutes by default. This setting can't be modified.<br/><br/>  | Today, most apps can recover well from crash-consistent points.<br/><br/> Crash-consistent recovery points are usually sufficient for the replication of operating systems, and apps such as DHCP servers and print servers.
+A crash consistent snapshot captures data that was on the disk when the snapshot was taken. It doesn't include anything in memory.<br/><br/> It contains the equivalent of the on-disk data that would be present if the VM crashed or the power cord was pulled from the server at the instant that the snapshot was taken.<br/><br/> A crash-consistent doesn't guarantee data consistency for the operating system, or for apps on the VM. | Site Recovery creates crash-consistent recovery points every five minutes by default. This setting can't be modified.<br/><br/>  | Today, most apps can recover well from crash-consistent points.<br/><br/> Crash-consistent recovery points are sufficient for the replication of operating systems, and apps such as DHCP servers and print servers.
 
 ### App-consistent
 
 **Description** | **Details** | **Recommendation**
 --- | --- | ---
-App-consistent recovery points are created from app-consistent snapshots.<br/><br/> An app-consistent snapshot contain all the information in a crash-consistent snapshot, plus all the data in memory and transactions in progress. | App-consistent snapshots use the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS):<br/><br/>   1) Azure Site Recovery uses Copy Only backup (VSS_BT_COPY) method which does not change Microsoft SQL's transaction log backup time and sequence number </br></br> 2) When a snapshot is initiated, VSS perform a copy-on-write (COW) operation on the volume.<br/><br/>   3) Before it performs the COW, VSS informs every app on the machine that it needs to flush its memory-resident data to disk.<br/><br/>   4) VSS then allows the backup/disaster recovery app (in this case Site Recovery) to read the snapshot data and proceed. | App-consistent snapshots are taken in accordance with the frequency you specify. This frequency should always be less than you set for retaining recovery points. For example, if you retain recovery points using the default setting of 24 hours, you should set the frequency at less than 24 hours.<br/><br/>They're more complex and take longer to complete than crash-consistent snapshots.<br/><br/> They affect the performance of apps running on a VM enabled for replication. 
+App-consistent recovery points are created from app-consistent snapshots.<br/><br/> An app-consistent snapshot contains all the information in a crash-consistent snapshot, plus all the data in memory and transactions in progress. | App-consistent snapshots use the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS):<br/><br/>   1) Azure Site Recovery uses Copy Only backup (VSS_BT_COPY) method, which doesn't change Microsoft SQL's transaction log backup time and sequence number </br></br> 2) When a snapshot is initiated, VSS perform a copy-on-write (COW) operation on the volume.<br/><br/>   3) Before it performs the COW, VSS informs every app on the machine that it needs to flush its memory-resident data to disk.<br/><br/>   4) VSS then allows the backup/disaster recovery app (in this case Site Recovery) to read the snapshot data and proceed. | App-consistent snapshots are taken in accordance with the frequency you specify. This frequency should always be less than you set for retaining recovery points. For example, if you retain recovery points using the default setting of 24 hours, you should set the frequency at less than 24 hours.<br/><br/>They're more complex and take longer to complete than crash-consistent snapshots.<br/><br/> They affect the performance of apps running on a VM enabled for replication. 
 
 ## Replication process
 
@@ -132,12 +132,12 @@ If outbound access for VMs is controlled with URLs, allow these URLs.
 | Replication               | `*.hypervrecoverymanager.windowsazure.com` | `*.hypervrecoverymanager.windowsazure.us`	  | Allows the VM to communicate with the Site Recovery service. |
 | Service Bus               | `*.servicebus.windows.net`                 | `*.servicebus.usgovcloudapi.net`             | Allows the VM to write Site Recovery monitoring and diagnostics data. |
 | Key Vault                 | `*.vault.azure.net`                        | `*.vault.usgovcloudapi.net`                  | Allows access to enable replication for ADE-enabled virtual machines via portal |
-| Azure Automation          | `*.automation.ext.azure.com`               | `*.azure-automation.us`                      | Allows enabling auto-upgrade of mobility agent for a replicated item via portal |
+| Azure Automation          | `*.automation.ext.azure.com`               | `*.azure-automation.us`                      | Allows enabling autoupgrade of mobility agent for a replicated item via portal |
 
 ### Outbound connectivity for IP address ranges
 
 To control outbound connectivity for VMs using IP addresses, allow these addresses.
-Please note that details of network connectivity requirements can be found in [networking white paper](azure-to-azure-about-networking.md#outbound-connectivity-using-service-tags) 
+Note that details of network connectivity requirements can be found in [networking white paper](azure-to-azure-about-networking.md#outbound-connectivity-using-service-tags).
 
 #### Source region rules
 
@@ -162,23 +162,23 @@ Allow HTTPS outbound: port 443 | Allow ranges that correspond to Azure Key Vault
 Allow HTTPS outbound: port 443 | Allow ranges that correspond to Azure Automation Controller (This is required only for enabling auto-upgrade of mobility agent for a replicated item via portal) | GuestAndHybridManagement
 
 
-#### Control access with NSG rules
+#### Control access with Network Security Group rules
 
-If you control VM connectivity by filtering network traffic to and from Azure networks/subnets using [NSG rules](../virtual-network/network-security-groups-overview.md), note the following requirements:
+If you control VM connectivity by filtering network traffic to and from Azure networks/subnets using [Network Security Group rules](../virtual-network/network-security-groups-overview.md), note the following requirements:
 
-- NSG rules for the source Azure region should allow outbound access for replication traffic.
+- Network Security Group rules for the source Azure region should allow outbound access for replication traffic.
 - We recommend you create rules in a test environment before you put them into production.
 - Use [service tags](../virtual-network/network-security-groups-overview.md#service-tags) instead of allowing individual IP addresses.
     - Service tags represent a group of IP address prefixes gathered together to minimize complexity when creating security rules.
     - Microsoft automatically updates service tags over time. 
 
-Learn more about [outbound connectivity](azure-to-azure-about-networking.md#outbound-connectivity-using-service-tags) for Site Recovery, and [controlling connectivity with NSGs](concepts-network-security-group-with-site-recovery.md).
+Learn more about [outbound connectivity](azure-to-azure-about-networking.md#outbound-connectivity-using-service-tags) for Site Recovery, and [controlling connectivity with Network Security Groups](concepts-network-security-group-with-site-recovery.md).
 
 
 ### Connectivity for multi-VM consistency
 
 If you enable multi-VM consistency, machines in the replication group communicate with each other over port 20004.
-- Ensure that there is no firewall appliance blocking the internal communication between the VMs over port 20004.
+- Ensure that there's no firewall appliance blocking the internal communication between the VMs over port 20004.
 - If you want Linux VMs to be part of a replication group, ensure the outbound traffic on port 20004 is manually opened as per the guidance of the specific Linux version.
 
 
@@ -192,4 +192,4 @@ When you initiate a failover, the VMs are created in the target resource group,
 
 ## Next steps
 
-[Quickly replicate](azure-to-azure-quickstart.md) an Azure VM to a secondary region.
+- [Quickly replicate](azure-to-azure-quickstart.md) an Azure VM to a secondary region.

articles/site-recovery/azure-to-azure-enable-replication-added-disk.md

@@ -48,4 +48,4 @@ After the enable replication job runs and the initial replication finishes, the
 
 ## Next steps
 
-[Learn more](site-recovery-test-failover-to-azure.md) about running a test failover.
+- [Learn more](site-recovery-test-failover-to-azure.md) about running a test failover.

articles/site-recovery/azure-to-azure-exclude-disks.md

@@ -134,4 +134,4 @@ After initial replication finishes, replication moves on to the differential-syn
 
 ## Next steps
 
-Learn about [running a test failover](site-recovery-test-failover-to-azure.md).
+- Learn about [running a test failover](site-recovery-test-failover-to-azure.md).

articles/site-recovery/azure-to-azure-how-to-enable-policy.md

@@ -144,4 +144,4 @@ If the VMs show up as noncompliant, it might be because policy evaluation happen
 
 ## Next steps
 
-[Learn more](site-recovery-test-failover-to-azure.md) about running a test failover.
+- [Learn more](site-recovery-test-failover-to-azure.md) about running a test failover.

articles/site-recovery/azure-to-azure-how-to-enable-replication-ade-vms.md

@@ -222,4 +222,4 @@ Permission required on [target Key vault](#required-user-permissions)
 
 ## Next steps
 
-[Learn more](site-recovery-test-failover-to-azure.md) about running a test failover.
+- [Learn more](site-recovery-test-failover-to-azure.md) about running a test failover.