Ascend Store Deployment Guide

Ascend Store Deployment Guide#

Environmental Dependencies#

Software:
- Python >= 3.10, < 3.12
- CANN == 8.3.rc2
- PyTorch == 2.8.0, torch-npu == 2.8.0
- vLLM：main branch
- vLLM-Ascend：main branch

KV Pool Parameter Description#

kv_connector_extra_config: Additional Configurable Parameters for Pooling.
lookup_rpc_port: Port for RPC Communication Between Pooling Scheduler Process and Worker Process: Each Instance Requires a Unique Port Configuration.
load_async: Whether to Enable Asynchronous Loading. The default value is false.
backend: Set the storage backend for kvpool, with the default being mooncake.

Environment Variable Configuration#

To guarantee uniform hash generation, it is required to synchronize the PYTHONHASHSEED environment variable across all nodes upon enabling KV Pool.

export PYTHONHASHSEED=0

Example of using Mooncake as a KV Pool backend#

Software:
- Check NPU HCCN Configuration:
  
  Ensure that the hccn.conf file exists in the environment. If using Docker, mount it into the container.
```
cat /etc/hccn.conf
```
- Install Mooncake
  
  Mooncake is the serving platform for Kimi, a leading LLM service provided by Moonshot AI. Installation and Compilation Guide: https://github.com/kvcache-ai/Mooncake?tab=readme-ov-file#build-and-use-binaries. First, we need to obtain the Mooncake project. Refer to the following command:
```
git clone -b v0.3.7.post2 --depth 1 https://github.com/kvcache-ai/Mooncake.git
```
  (Optional) Replace go install url if the network is poor
```
cd Mooncake
sed -i 's|https://go.dev/dl/|https://golang.google.cn/dl/|g' dependencies.sh
```
  Install mpi
```
apt-get install mpich libmpich-dev -y
```
  Install the relevant dependencies. The installation of Go is not required.
```
bash dependencies.sh -y
```
  Compile and install
```
mkdir build
cd build
cmake .. -DUSE_ASCEND_DIRECT=ON
make -j
make install
```
  Set environment variables
  
  Note:
  - Adjust the Python path according to your specific Python installation
  - Ensure /usr/local/lib and /usr/local/lib64 are in your LD_LIBRARY_PATH
```
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib64/python3.11/site-packages/mooncake:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
```

Run Mooncake Master#

1.Configure mooncake.json#

The environment variable MOONCAKE_CONFIG_PATH is configured to the full path where mooncake.json is located.

{
    "metadata_server": "P2PHANDSHAKE",
    "protocol": "ascend",
    "device_name": "",
    "master_server_address": "xx.xx.xx.xx:50088",
    "global_segment_size": "1GB" (1024MB/1048576KB/1073741824B/1073741824)
}

metadata_server: Configured as P2PHANDSHAKE.
protocol: Must be set to ‘Ascend’ on the NPU. device_name: “” master_server_address: Configured with the IP and port of the master service.
global_segment_size: Registered memory size per card to the KV Pool.

2.Start mooncake_master#

Under the mooncake folder:

mooncake_master --port 50088 --eviction_high_watermark_ratio 0.9 --eviction_ratio 0.1

eviction_high_watermark_ratio determines the watermark where Mooncake Store will perform eviction，and eviction_ratio determines the portion of stored objects that would be evicted.

PD Disaggregation Scenario#

1.Run `prefill` Node and `decode` Node#

Using MultiConnector to simultaneously utilize both MooncakeConnectorV1 and AscendStoreConnector. MooncakeConnectorV1 performs kv_transfer, while AscendStoreConnector serves as the prefix-cache node.

prefill Node：

bash multi_producer.sh

The content of the multi_producer.sh script:

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/Ascend/ascend-toolkit/latest/python/site-packages:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
export PYTHONHASHSEED=0 
export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/xxxxx/vllm
export MOONCAKE_CONFIG_PATH="/xxxxxx/mooncake.json"
export ASCEND_RT_VISIBLE_DEVICES=0,1,2,3
export ACL_OP_INIT_MODE=1

# ASCEND_BUFFER_POOL is the environment variable for configuring the number and size of buffer on NPU Device for aggregation and KV transfer，the value 4:8 means we allocate 4 buffers of size 8MB.
export ASCEND_BUFFER_POOL=4:8

# Unit: ms. The timeout for one-sided communication connection establishment is set to 10 seconds by default (see PR: https://github.com/kvcache-ai/Mooncake/pull/1039). Users can adjust this value based on their specific setup.
# The recommended formula is: ASCEND_CONNECT_TIMEOUT = connection_time_per_card (typically within 500ms) × total_number_of_Decode_cards.
# This ensures that even in the worst-case scenario—where all Decode cards simultaneously attempt to connect to the same Prefill card the connection will not time out.
export ASCEND_CONNECT_TIMEOUT=10000

# Unit: ms. The timeout for one-sided communication transfer is set to 10 seconds by default (see PR: https://github.com/kvcache-ai/Mooncake/pull/1039).
export ASCEND_TRANSFER_TIMEOUT=10000

python3 -m vllm.entrypoints.openai.api_server \
    --model /xxxxx/Qwen2.5-7B-Instruct \
    --port 8100 \
    --trust-remote-code \
    --enforce-eager \
    --no_enable_prefix_caching \
    --tensor-parallel-size 1 \
    --data-parallel-size 1 \
    --max-model-len 10000 \
    --block-size 128 \
    --max-num-batched-tokens 4096 \
    --kv-transfer-config \
    '{
    "kv_connector": "MultiConnector",
    "kv_role": "kv_producer",
    "kv_connector_extra_config": {
        "connectors": [
            {
                "kv_connector": "MooncakeConnectorV1",
                "kv_role": "kv_producer",
                "kv_port": "20001",
                "kv_connector_extra_config": {
                    "use_ascend_direct": true,
                    "prefill": {
                        "dp_size": 1,
                        "tp_size": 1
                    },
                    "decode": {
                        "dp_size": 1,
                        "tp_size": 1
                    }
                }
            },
            {
                "kv_connector": "AscendStoreConnector",
                "kv_role": "kv_producer",
                "kv_connector_extra_config": {
                    "lookup_rpc_port":"0",
                    "backend": "mooncake"
                }
            }  
        ]
    }
    }'

decode Node：

bash multi_consumer.sh

The content of multi_consumer.sh:

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/Ascend/ascend-toolkit/latest/python/site-packages:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/xxxxx/vllm
export PYTHONHASHSEED=0 
export MOONCAKE_CONFIG_PATH="/xxxxx/mooncake.json"
export ASCEND_RT_VISIBLE_DEVICES=4,5,6,7
export ACL_OP_INIT_MODE=1
export ASCEND_BUFFER_POOL=4:8
export ASCEND_CONNECT_TIMEOUT=10000
export ASCEND_TRANSFER_TIMEOUT=10000

python3 -m vllm.entrypoints.openai.api_server \
    --model /xxxxx/Qwen2.5-7B-Instruct \
    --port 8200 \
    --trust-remote-code \
    --enforce-eager \
    --no_enable_prefix_caching \
    --tensor-parallel-size 1 \
    --data-parallel-size 1 \
    --max-model-len 10000 \
    --block-size 128 \
    --max-num-batched-tokens 4096 \
    --kv-transfer-config \
    '{
    "kv_connector": "MultiConnector",
    "kv_role": "kv_consumer",
    "kv_connector_extra_config": {
        "connectors": [
        {
                "kv_connector": "MooncakeConnectorV1",
                "kv_role": "kv_consumer",
                "kv_port": "20002",
                "kv_connector_extra_config": {
                    "prefill": {
                        "dp_size": 1,
                        "tp_size": 1
                    },
                    "decode": {
                        "dp_size": 1,
                        "tp_size": 1
                    }
                }
            },
            {
                "kv_connector": "AscendStoreConnector",
                "kv_role": "kv_consumer",
                "kv_connector_extra_config": {
                    "lookup_rpc_port":"0",
                    "backend": "mooncake"
                }
            }
        ]
    }
    }'

Currently, the key-value pool in PD Disaggregate only stores the kv cache generated by the Prefill node by default. In models using MLA, it is now supported that the Decode node stores the kv cache for use by the Prefill node, enabled by adding consumer_is_to_put: true to the AscendStoreConnector. If the Prefill node enables PP, prefill_pp_size or prefill_pp_layer_partition also needs to be set. Example as follows:

{
    "kv_connector": "AscendStoreConnector",
    "kv_role": "kv_consumer",
    "kv_connector_extra_config": {
        "lookup_rpc_port":"0",
        "backend": "mooncake"
        "consumer_is_to_put": true,
        "prefill_pp_size": 2
        "prefill_pp_layer_partition": "30,31"
    }
}

2、Start proxy_server.#

python vllm-ascend/examples/disaggregated_prefill_v1/load_balance_proxy_server_example.py \
    --host localhost\
    --prefiller-hosts localhost \
    --prefiller-ports 8100 \
    --decoder-hosts localhost\
    --decoder-ports 8200 \

Change localhost to your actual IP address.

3.Run Inference#

Configure the localhost, port, and model weight path in the command to your own settings.

Short question:

curl -s http://localhost:8000/v1/completions -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{ "model": "/xxxxx/Qwen2.5-7B-Instruct", "prompt": "Hello. I have a question. The president of the United States is", "max_tokens": 200, "temperature":0.0 }'

Long question:

curl -s http://localhost:8000/v1/completions -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{ "model": "/xxxxx/Qwen2.5-7B-Instruct", "prompt": "Given the accelerating impacts of climate change—including rising sea levels, increasing frequency of extreme weather events, loss of biodiversity, and adverse effects on agriculture and human health—there is an urgent need for a robust, globally coordinated response. However, international efforts are complicated by a range of factors: economic disparities between high-income and low-income countries, differing levels of industrialization, varying access to clean energy technologies, and divergent political systems that influence climate policy implementation. In this context, how can global agreements like the Paris Accord be redesigned or strengthened to not only encourage but effectively enforce emission reduction targets? Furthermore, what mechanisms can be introduced to promote fair and transparent technology transfer, provide adequate financial support for climate adaptation in vulnerable regions, and hold nations accountable without exacerbating existing geopolitical tensions or disproportionately burdening those with historically lower emissions?", "max_tokens": 256, "temperature":0.0 }'

Colocation Scenario#

1.Run Mixed Department Script#

bash mixed_department.sh

Content of mixed_department.sh:

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/Ascend/ascend-toolkit/latest/python/site-packages:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/xxxxx/vllm
export MOONCAKE_CONFIG_PATH="/xxxxxx/mooncake.json"
export ASCEND_RT_VISIBLE_DEVICES=0,1,2,3
export PYTHONHASHSEED=0 
export ACL_OP_INIT_MODE=1
export ASCEND_BUFFER_POOL=4:8
export ASCEND_CONNECT_TIMEOUT=10000
export ASCEND_TRANSFER_TIMEOUT=10000

python3 -m vllm.entrypoints.openai.api_server \
    --model /xxxxx/Qwen2.5-7B-Instruct \
    --port 8100 \
    --trust-remote-code \
    --enforce-eager \
    --no_enable_prefix_caching \
    --tensor-parallel-size 1 \
    --data-parallel-size 1 \
    --max-model-len 10000 \
    --block-size 128 \
    --max-num-batched-tokens 4096 \
    --kv-transfer-config \
    '{
    "kv_connector": "AscendStoreConnector",
    "kv_role": "kv_both",
    "kv_connector_extra_config": {
        "lookup_rpc_port":"1",
        "backend": "mooncake"
    }
}' > mix.log 2>&1

2.Run Inference#

Configure the localhost, port, and model weight path in the command to your own settings. The requests sent will only go to the port where the mixed deployment script is located, and there is no need to start a separate proxy.