Merge branch '3-2504' of https://github.com/alkohli/azure-stack-docs-pr

Author: alkohli

azure-local/TOC.yml

@@ -152,7 +152,10 @@ items:
     - name: Using Express scripts
       href: deploy/sdn-express-23h2.md
     - name: Using Windows Admin Center
-      href: deploy/sdn-wizard-23h2.md     
+      href: deploy/sdn-wizard-23h2.md  
+  - name: Deploy Rack Aware Clustering 
+    href: deploy/deployment-azure-resource-manager-template.md
+
 
   - name: Deploy workloads
     items:
@@ -274,6 +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: manage/rack-aware-clustering-vm-placement.md
 
   - name: Trusted launch for Azure Local VMs
     items: 
@@ -539,6 +546,22 @@ items:
   items: 
   - name: Azure Local observability
     href: concepts/observability.md
+  - name: Azure Local Rack Aware Clustering
+    items:
+    - name: Overview
+      href: plan/rack-aware-clustering-overview.md
+    - name: Network design requirements
+      items: 
+      - name: Switch configuration
+        href: plan/rack-aware-clustering-network-design-switch-configuration.md
+      - name: Link configuration
+        href: plan/rack-aware-clustering-network-design-link-configuration.md
+      - name: QoS configuration
+        href: plan/rack-aware-clustering-network-design-qos-configuration.md
+      - name: SDN configuration
+        href: plan/rack-aware-clustering-network-design-sdn-configuration.md
+      - name: AKS configuration
+        href: plan/rack-aware-clustering-network-design-aks-configuration.md
   - name: Host networking
     items:
     - name: Network ATC overview

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

@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+---
+title: Azure Local virtual machine placement in a Rack Aware Cluster (Preview)
+description: Use this topic to learn how to place your Azure Local VMs on a Rack Aware Cluster (Preview).
+author: alkohli
+ms.author: alkohli
+ms.topic: overview
+ms.service: azure-local
+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) enabled by Azure Arc, on a Rack Aware Cluster.
+
+[!INCLUDE [important](../includes/hci-preview.md)]
+
+## About Rack Aware Cluster and Azure Local VMs
+
+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.
+
+Before you place Azure VMs on a Rack Aware Cluster, make sure to create 2 or more 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.
+
+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.>
+
+Once you have the placement zones, you can assign those to the VMs to reduce latency, improve performance, ensure redundancy and meet compliance requirements.
+
+> [!IMPORTANT]
+> Updating zone configuration of existing virtual machines is not supported.  
+
+## Prerequisites
+
+- Make sure that you've access to a Rack Aware Cluster. For more information, see [Deploy a Rack Aware Cluster](../index.yml).
+- Ensure that the Rack Aware Cluster has 2 or more availability zones configured. For more information, see [Configuring availability zones](../index.yml).
+    - Go to the **Settings** blade of the Azure Local instance in the Azure portal, and select **Availability zones**. You can see the availability zones configured for your Rack Aware Cluster. Insert image here.
+- 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.
+
+## Create and place the Azure Local VM
+
+### Sign in and set the subscription
+
+[!INCLUDE [hci-vm-sign-in-set-subscription](../includes/hci-vm-sign-in-set-subscription.md)]
+
+### Set the parameters
+
+1. Set the parameters:
+
+    ```azurecli
+    $vmName ="local-vm" 
+    $subscription =  "<Subscription ID>" 
+    $resource_group = "local-rg" 
+    $customLocationName = "local-cl" 
+    $customLocationID ="/subscriptions/$subscription/resourceGroups/$resource_group/providers/Microsoft.ExtendedLocation/customLocations/$customLocationName" 
+    $location = "eastus" 
+    $computerName = "mycomputer" 
+    $userName = "local-user" 
+    $password = "<password for the VM>" 
+    $imageName ="ws22server" 
+    $nicName ="local-vnic"  
+    $storagePathName = "local-sp"  
+    $storagePathId = "/subscriptions/<Subscription ID>/resourceGroups/local-rg/providers/Microsoft.AzureStackHCI/storagecontainers/local-sp" 
+    $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 is created in the desired zone. Look under the `placementProfile` in the output.
+
+    ```azurecli
+    "placementProfile": { 
+      "strictPlacementPolicy": null, 
+      "zone": "local-zone" 
+    }, 
+    ```
+
+### 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.  
+
+Follow these steps to create a VM in a specific availability zone with strict placement enabled:
+
+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 –strict-placement true
+    ```
+
+1. Verify that the VM has strict placement enabled and was created in the desired zone. Look under `placementProfile` in the output.
+
+    ```azurecli
+    "placementProfile": { 
+      "strictPlacementPolicy": true, 
+      "zone": "local-zone" 
+    },
+    ```
+
+## Next steps
+
+- See [Rack Aware Cluster networking overview](../plan/rack-aware-clustering-overview.md).