Change TOC placement, refine the VM placement article

Author: alkohli

azure-local/TOC.yml

@@ -254,8 +254,6 @@ items:
         href: manage/create-arc-virtual-machines.md
     - name: Connect to VM via SSH
       href: manage/connect-arc-vm-using-ssh.md
-    - name: Place VMs in Rack Aware Cluster
-      href: plan/rack-aware-clustering-vm-placement.md
     - name: Manage Azure Local VMs
       href: manage/manage-arc-virtual-machines.md
     - name: Manage Azure Local VM resources
@@ -279,6 +277,10 @@ items:
       href: manage/troubleshoot-arc-enabled-vms.md
     - name: FAQs
       href: manage/azure-arc-vms-faq.yml
+  - name: Rack Aware Cluster
+    items:
+      - name: Place VMs in Rack Aware Cluster
+        href: plan/rack-aware-clustering-vm-placement.md
 
   - name: Trusted launch for Azure Local VMs
     items: 

azure-local/plan/rack-aware-clustering-vm-placement.md renamed to azure-local/manage/rack-aware-clustering-vm-placement.md

@@ -5,40 +5,39 @@ author: alkohli
 ms.author: alkohli
 ms.topic: overview
 ms.service: azure-local
-ms.date: 04/01/2025
+ms.date: 04/07/2025
 ---
 
 # Place Azure Local VMs on a Rack Aware Cluster (Preview)
 
 [!INCLUDE [applies-to](../includes/hci-applies-to-23h2.md)]
 
-This article describes how to place an Azure Local virtual machine (VM) on a Rack Aware Cluster.
+This article describes how to place an Azure Local virtual machine (VM) enabled by Azure Arc, on a Rack Aware Cluster.
 
 [!INCLUDE [important](../includes/hci-preview.md)]
 
 ## About Rack Aware Cluster and Azure Local VMs
 
-Azure Local Rack Aware Cluster is an advanced architecture designed to enhance fault tolerance and data distribution within an Azure Local instance. This architecture enables you to cluster nodes that are strategically placed across two physical racks in two different rooms or buildings with high bandwidth and low latency. An example of Rack Aware Cluster could be the use in a manufacturing plant to minimize the risk of data loss or downtime in the event of a rack-level failure.  
+You can run Azure Local VMs on a Rack Aware Cluster running on an Azure Local instance. A Rack Aware Cluster is designed to enhance fault tolerance and data distribution within an Azure Local instance.
 
-## Prerequisites
+Before you place Azure VMs on a Rack Aware Cluster, you must have availability zones. Availability zones expands the level of control you have to maintain the availability of the applications and data on your VMs. An Availability Zone is a physically separate zone, within an Azure region. There are three Availability Zones per supported Azure region.
 
-Before you create an Azure Local VM for a rack aware cluster, make sure that all prerequisites listed in [Create Azure Local virtual machines enabled by Azure Arc](../manage/create-arc-virtual-machines.md) are met.
+Each Availability Zone has a distinct power source, network, and cooling. By designing your solutions to use replicated VMs in zones, you can protect your apps and data from the loss of a data center. If one zone is compromised, then replicated apps and data are instantly available in another zone.
 
-## Create a VM in a specific availability zone without strict placement
+Once you have the availability zones, you can assign those to the VMs to reduce latency, improve performance, ensure redundancy and meet compliance requirements.
 
-Once you have set up availability zones in a rack aware cluster, you can create Azure Local VMs on a specific availability zone to reduce latency, improve performance, ensure redundancy, and meet compliance requirements.
+## Prerequisites
 
-When you create a VM in a specific availability zone, the default option is without strict placement. The VM is created on a machine within the specified zone (`--zone`).
+- Make sure that you've access to a Rack Aware Cluster. The Rack Aware Cluster must have availability zones configured. For more information, see [Configuring availability zones](../index.yml).
+- Before you create an Azure Local VM for a rack aware cluster, make sure that all prerequisites listed in [Create Azure Local virtual machines enabled by Azure Arc](../manage/create-arc-virtual-machines.md) are met.
 
-If all machines within a zone are down, the VM can migrate to another machine outside of the zone. However, the VM attempts to fail back to a machine within the original zone when that availability zone recovers.
+## Create and place the Azure Local VM
 
-> [!NOTE]
-> If no zone is specified when creating an Azure Local VM, the system automatically chooses an optimal placement within the rack aware cluster.
+### Sign in and set the subscription
 
-1. Connect to a machine on your Azure Local instance.
-1. Sign in and set the subscription:
+[!INCLUDE [hci-vm-sign-in-set-subscription](../includes/hci-vm-sign-in-set-subscription.md)]
 
-    :::image type="content" source="media/rack-aware-clustering-overview/rack-aware-cluster-vm-sign-in.png" alt-text="Screenshot showing VM sign in." lightbox="media/rack-aware-clustering-overview/rack-aware-cluster-vm-sign-in.png":::
+### Set the parameters
 
 1. Set the parameters:
 
@@ -56,16 +55,30 @@ If all machines within a zone are down, the VM can migrate to another machine ou
     $nicName ="local-vnic"  
     $storagePathName = "local-sp"  
     $storagePathId = "/subscriptions/<Subscription ID>/resourceGroups/local-rg/providers/Microsoft.AzureStackHCI/storagecontainers/local-sp" 
-    $zone = “local-zone”
+    $zone = "local-zone"
     ```
 
+You can now create the Azure Local VM in a specific availability zone with or without strict placement.
+
+### Create a VM in a specific availability zone without strict placement
+
+Once you have set up availability zones in a rack aware cluster, you can create Azure Local VMs on a specific availability zone to reduce latency, improve performance, ensure redundancy, and meet compliance requirements.
+
+When you create a VM in a specific availability zone, the default option is without strict placement. The VM is created on a machine within the specified zone (using the `--zone` flag).
+
+If all machines within a zone are down, the VM can migrate to another machine outside of the zone. However, the VM attempts to fail back to a machine within the original zone when that availability zone recovers.
+
+> [!NOTE]
+> If no zone is specified when creating an Azure Local VM, the system automatically chooses an optimal placement within the rack aware cluster.
+
+
 1. Run the following command:
 
     ```azurecli
     az stack-hci-vm create --name $vmName --resource-group $resource_group --admin-username $userName --admin-password $password --computer-name $computerName --image $imageName --location $location --authentication-type all --nics $nicName --custom-location $customLocationID --hardware-profile memory-mb="8192" processors="4" --storage-path-id $storagePathId –zone $zone 
     ```
  
-1. Verify that the VM was created in the desired zone. Look under `placementProfile` in the output.
+1. Verify that the VM is created in the desired zone. Look under the `placementProfile` in the output.
 
     ```azurecli
     "placementProfile": { 
@@ -74,9 +87,14 @@ If all machines within a zone are down, the VM can migrate to another machine ou
     }, 
     ```
 
-## Create a VM in a specific availability zone with strict placement enabled
+### Create a VM in a specific availability zone with strict placement enabled
+
+To create a VM in a specific availability zone and ensure it stays within that availability zone, you can specify another flag `--strict-placement` to `true`. The VM is created on a node within the specified zone (`--zone`). If all machines within a zone are down, the VM also goes down. 
+
+> [!TIP]
+> Only enable strict placement if the VM isn't required to be always running or needs to adhere to a specific availability zone due to compliance requirements.  
 
-To create a VM in a specific availability zone and ensure it stays within that availability zone, you can specify another flag `--strict-placement` to `true`. The VM is created on a node within the specified zone (`--zone`). If all machines within a zone are down, the VM also goes down. Only enable strict placement if the VM isn't required to be always running or needs to adhere to a specific availability zone due to compliance requirements.  
+Follow these steps to create a VM in a specific availability zone with strict placement enabled:
 
 1. Run the following command: