README.md

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# LLM Deployment Benchmarking Guide

This guide provides detailed steps on benchmarking Large Language Models (LLMs) in single and multi-node configurations.

> [!NOTE]
> We recommend trying out the [LLM Deployment Examples](./README.md) before benchmarking.

## Prerequisites

H100 80GB x8 node(s) are required for benchmarking.

1\. Build benchmarking image
```bash
./container/build.sh
```

2\. Download model
```bash
huggingface-cli download neuralmagic/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama-70B-FP8-dynamic
```

3\. Start NATS and ETCD
```bash
docker compose -f deploy/docker_compose.yml up -d
```

## Disaggregated Single Node Benchmarking

In the following steps we compare Dynamo disaggregated vLLM single node performance to
[native vLLM Aggregated Baseline](#vllm-aggregated-baseline-benchmarking). These were chosen to optimize
for Output Token Throughput (per sec) when both are performing under similar Inter Token Latency (ms).
For more details on your use case please see the [Performance Tuning Guide](/docs/guides/disagg_perf_tuning.md).

One H100 80GB x8 node is required for this setup.

With the Dynamo repository, benchmarking image and model available, and **NATS and ETCD started**, perform the following steps:

1\. Run benchmarking container
```bash
./container/run.sh -it \
  -v <huggingface_hub>:/root/.cache/huggingface/hub \
  -v <dynamo_repo>:/workspace
```

2\. Start disaggregated services
```bash
cd /workspace/examples/llm
dynamo serve benchmarks.disagg:Frontend -f benchmarks/disagg.yaml 1> disagg.log 2>&1 &
```
Note: Check the `disagg.log` to make sure the service is fully started before collecting performance numbers.

Collect the performance numbers as shown on the [Collecting Performance Numbers](#collecting-performance-numbers) section below.

## vLLM Aggregated Baseline Benchmarking

One H100 80GB x8 node is required for this setup.

With the Dynamo repository and the benchmarking image available, perform the following steps:

1\. Run benchmarking container
```bash
./container/run.sh -it \
  -v <huggingface_hub>:/root/.cache/huggingface/hub \
  -v <dynamo_repo>:/workspace
```

2\. Start vLLM serve
```bash
CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=0,1,2,3 vllm serve neuralmagic/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama-70B-FP8-dynamic \
  --block-size 128 \
  --max-model-len 3500 \
  --max-num-batched-tokens 3500 \
  --tensor-parallel-size 4 \
  --gpu-memory-utilization 0.95 \
  --disable-log-requests \
  --port 8001 1> vllm_0.log 2>&1 &
CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=4,5,6,7 vllm serve neuralmagic/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama-70B-FP8-dynamic \
  --block-size 128 \
  --max-model-len 3500 \
  --max-num-batched-tokens 3500 \
  --tensor-parallel-size 4 \
  --gpu-memory-utilization 0.95 \
  --disable-log-requests \
  --port 8002 1> vllm_1.log 2>&1 &
```
Notes:
* Check the `vllm_0.log` and `vllm_1.log` to make sure the service is fully started before collecting performance numbers.
* The `vllm serve` configuration should closely match the corresponding disaggregated benchmarking configuration.

3\. Use NGINX as load balancer
```bash
apt update && apt install -y nginx
cp /workspace/examples/llm/benchmarks/nginx.conf /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
service nginx restart
```

Collect the performance numbers as shown on the [Collecting Performance Numbers](#collecting-performance-numbers) section below.

## Collecting Performance Numbers

Run the benchmarking script
```bash
bash -x /workspace/examples/llm/benchmarks/perf.sh
```

## Future Roadmap

* Disaggregated Multi Node Benchmarking
* Results Interpretation