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Azure Hybrid Benefit for AKS enabled by Azure Arc (AKS on Azure Stack HCI 22H2)

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Applies to: AKS on Azure Stack HCI 22H2, AKS on Windows Server

Azure Hybrid Benefit is a program that enables you to significantly reduce the costs of running workloads in the cloud. With Azure Hybrid Benefit for AKS enabled by Arc, you can maximize the value of your on-premises licenses and modernize your applications at no additional cost.

What is Azure Hybrid Benefit for AKS?

Azure Hybrid Benefit for AKS enabled by Arc is a new benefit that can help you significantly reduce the cost of running Kubernetes on-premises or at the edge. It works by letting you apply your on-premises Windows Server Datacenter or Standard licenses with Software Assurance (SA) to pay for AKS. Each Windows Server core license entitles use on 1 virtual core of AKS. There are a few important details to note regarding activation of the benefit for AKS:

  • Azure Hybrid Benefit for AKS is enabled at the management cluster (or AKS host) level. You don't need to enable the benefit for workload clusters.
  • If you have multiple AKS on Azure Stack HCI or Windows Server deployments, you must enable Azure Hybrid Benefit individually for each deployment.
  • If you enable Azure Hybrid Benefit on an AKS Arc deployment during the trial period, it doesn't nullify your trial period. The benefit is activated immediately, and is applied at the end of the trial period.
  • Reinstalling AKS Arc doesn't automatically reinstate the benefit. You must reactivate this benefit for the new deployment.

For more information about Software Assurance and with which agreements it's available, see Benefits of Software Assurance.

The rest of this article describes how to activate this benefit for AKS on Azure Stack HCI or Windows Server.

Tip

You can maximize cost savings by also using Azure Hybrid Benefit for Azure Stack HCI. For more information, see Azure Hybrid Benefit for Azure Stack HCI.

Activate Azure Hybrid Benefit for AKS

Prerequisites

Make sure you have an AKS cluster deployed on either an Azure Stack HCI or a Windows Server host.

To use Azure PowerShell, you can upgrade Azure PowerShell to the latest version (make sure to start PowerShell with administrator privileges).

  1. Install or update the Az.Accounts and Az.ConnectedKubernetes modules:

    Update-Module Az.Accounts 
Update-Module Az.ConnectedKubernetes

  2. (Optional) If the Az.* modules installation is not successful and does not work, you must grant additional PowerShell permissions to execute external scripts:

    Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process

Note

You must have the Microsoft.Kubernetes/connectedClusters/write permission to the Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes cluster resoruce of the management cluster (microsoft.kubernetes/connectedclusters) to activate the Azure Hybrid Benefit.

Retrieve your management cluster name

You can verify the AKS host management cluster by running the following command on any one node in your physical cluster to retrieve the kvaName name:

(Get-AksHciConfig).Kva.kvaName

Sample output

"<manangement cluster name>"

Verify that Azure Hybrid Benefit for AKS is not already enabled

Check that the benefit has not already enabled on your management cluster. If the benefit has already been enabled, you should see the property AzureHybridBenefit set to true.

Connect-AzAccount -Tenant <TenantId> -Subscription <SubscriptionId> -UseDeviceAuthentication
Set-AzContext -Subscription <Subscription>
Get-AzConnectedKubernetes -ClusterName <management cluster name> -ResourceGroupName <resource group name> | fl

Sample output

{
  "agentVersion": "1.8.14",
  "azureHybridBenefit": "NotApplicable",
  "connectivityStatus": "Connected",
  "distribution": "AKS_Management",
  "distributionVersion": null,
  "id": "/subscriptions/<subscription>/resourceGroups/<resource group>/providers/Microsoft.Kubernetes/connectedClusters/<cluster name>",
  "identity": {

  },
  "infrastructure": "azure_stack_hci",
  "kubernetesVersion": "1.23.12",
  "lastConnectivityTime": "2022-11-04T14:59:59.050000+00:00",
  "location": "eastus",
  "miscellaneousProperties": null,
  "name": "<management cluster name>",
  "offering": "AzureStackHCI_AKS_Management",
  "provisioningState": "Succeeded",
  "resourceGroup": "<resource group>",
  "systemData": {},
  "tags": {},
  "totalCoreCount": 4,
  "totalNodeCount": 1,
  "type": "microsoft.kubernetes/connectedclusters"
}

Warning

If you have an empty value for the JSON property distribution, follow this link to patch your cluster before proceeding with activating Azure Hybrid Benefit for AKS.

Activate Azure Hybrid Benefit

To activate the benefit for an AKS cluster, run the following command in PowerShell and set the AzureHybridBenefit or azure-hybrid-benefit property to true. You will be prompted to confirm compliance with Azure Hybrid Benefit terms before proceeding.

Update-AzConnectedKubernetes -ClusterName <management cluster name> -ResourceGroupName <resource group name> -AzureHybridBenefit True

Sample output

I confirm I have an eligible Windows Server license with Azure Hybrid Benefit to apply this benefit to AKS on HCI or Windows Server. Visit https://aka.ms/ahb-aks for details (y/n)

Note

You can also do the Azure Hybrid Benefit for AKS activation operation from an Azure Cloud Shell instance.

Verify that the benefit is enabled

Run the following command and check that the JSON property AzureHybridBenefit is set to True.

Get-AzConnectedKubernetes -ClusterName <management cluster name> -ResourceGroupName <resource group name> | fl

Maintain compliance for Azure Hybrid Benefit

After activating Azure Hybrid Benefit for AKS, you must regularly check and maintain compliance for Azure Hybrid Benefit. You can perform an inventory of how many units you are running, and check this against the Software Assurance licenses you have. To determine how many clusters with Azure Hybrid Benefit for AKS you are running, you can look at your Microsoft Azure bill.

To qualify for the Azure Hybrid Benefit for AKS, you must be running AKS on first-party Microsoft infrastructure such as Azure Stack HCI or Windows Server 2019/2022 and have the appropriate license to cover the underlying infrastructure. You can only use Azure Hybrid Benefit for AKS during the Software Assurance term. When the Software Assurance term is nearing expiry, you must either renew your agreement with Software Assurance, or deactivate the Azure Hybrid Benefit functionality.

Verify that Azure Hybrid Benefit for AKS is applied to my Microsoft Azure Bill

See Cost Management and Billing in the Azure portal to verify that the Azure Hybrid Benefit for AKS has been applied to your Microsoft Azure bill. Please note that billing does not apply in real time. There will be a delay of several hours from the time you've activated Azure Hybrid Benefit until it shows on your bill.

Deactivate Azure Hybrid Benefit for AKS

Run the following command to deactivate the benefit:

Update-AzConnectedKubernetes -ClusterName <management cluster name> -ResourceGroupName <resource group name> -AzureHybridBenefit False

Next steps