Planner Design

Tier 3 design documentation for contributors and architects. For user-facing docs, see docs/components/planner/.

Overview

The Planner is Dynamo’s autoscaling controller. It supports two scaling modes: throughput-based (using profiling data and traffic prediction) and load-based (using real-time engine metrics and online regression). This document covers the internal architecture, algorithms, and design trade-offs for both modes.

Throughput-Based Scaling

Scaling Algorithm

Step 1: Metric Collection

Every adjustment_interval seconds, the planner queries Prometheus for:

• Average TTFT and ITL over the interval
• Total request count
• Average input sequence length (ISL) and output sequence length (OSL)

The Prometheus query targets the Frontend’s /metrics endpoint, which exposes histograms and counters.

Step 2: Correction Factor Calculation

The planner maintains correction factors that adapt profiling-based predictions to real-world behavior:

prefill_correction = actual_ttft / expected_ttft
decode_correction  = actual_itl  / expected_itl

These factors account for hard to model factors such as:

• Request queueing: Bursty traffic causes higher TTFT than profiled steady-state
• Prefix cache hits: KV reuse reduces effective prefill tokens, lowering actual TTFT
• Chunked prefill in decode: Small prefills processed in decode engine affect ITL
• Metric variance: Average ISL/OSL may not represent the actual distribution

The correction factors are applied as multipliers to the next scaling decision. Setting --no-correction disables this for debugging or when cold-start artifacts dominate.

Step 3: Load Prediction

The planner forecasts three values for the next interval:

• next_num_req: Number of requests
• next_isl: Average input sequence length
• next_osl: Average output sequence length

Four predictor implementations are available:

All predictors support warm-starting from trace files (--load-predictor-warmup-trace).

Step 4: Replica Calculation

Prefill replicas:

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predicted_load = next_requests * next_isl / interval * min(1, prefill_correction)
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prefill_replicas = ceil(predicted_load / interpolated_throughput / gpus_per_engine)

The prefill correction factor has a linear effect on throughput because prefill is single-batched.

Decode replicas:

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# Apply correction to the ITL SLA target
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corrected_itl = target_itl / decode_correction_factor
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# Find best throughput/GPU that achieves corrected ITL at predicted context length
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throughput_per_gpu = decode_interpolator.find_best_throughput_per_gpu(
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    itl=corrected_itl,
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    context_length=next_isl + next_osl / 2
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)
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# Calculate required replicas
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decode_replicas = ceil(next_num_req * next_osl / interval / throughput_per_gpu / gpus_per_engine)

Step 5: Scaling Execution

The planner calls connector.set_component_replicas() with the calculated targets. Scaling is non-blocking by default: the planner continues monitoring while replicas are adjusting.

Connector Design

Interface

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class PlannerConnector(ABC):
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    async def add_component(self, component_name)
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    async def remove_component(self, component_name)
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    # Extended interface (not on ABC, but implemented by both connectors):
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    async def set_component_replicas(self, targets, blocking)
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    async def validate_deployment(self, ...)
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    async def wait_for_deployment_ready(self)

KubernetesConnector

Directly PATCHes the DGD resource to update replica counts. The operator watches for DGD changes and reconciles component deployments.

Design decisions:

• Uses DYN_PARENT_DGD_K8S_NAME to find its parent DGD (injected by operator)
• Resolves services by subComponentType field (prefill/decode), with fallback to legacy component names
• Validates deployment structure on startup: checks that prefill and decode services exist and model names match

VirtualConnector

For non-native environments (e.g., custom orchestrators). Writes scaling decisions to the distributed runtime via VirtualConnectorCoordinator (Rust binding). External systems use VirtualConnectorClient to poll decisions and report completion.

Scaling decision flow:

1. Planner writes (num_prefill, num_decode, decision_id) to runtime
2. External system reads decision via client.wait()
3. External system executes scaling
4. External system reports completion via client.complete(decision)
5. Planner sees scaled_decision_id >= decision_id and proceeds

Timeout: If scaling isn’t acknowledged within 1800s (configurable), the planner proceeds with new decisions anyway.

Performance Interpolation

The planner uses pre-deployment profiling data (NPZ files) to map (throughput, ISL/OSL, context_length) -> (TTFT, ITL). This data comes from the SLA-driven profiling process (either online GPU profiling or AI Configurator estimation).

Two interpolators are maintained:

• Prefill interpolator: Maps (throughput_per_gpu, ISL) -> TTFT
• Decode interpolator: Maps (throughput_per_gpu, context_length) -> ITL

The interpolators use the profiling sweep granularity to determine precision. Finer granularity means more profiling samples but more accurate interpolation.

Initialization

The planner currently waits 30 seconds (INIT_PLANNER_START_DELAY in components/src/dynamo/planner/__main__.py) as a temporary workaround while other components (frontend, workers) register and stabilize; see Known Limitations for the planned readiness-probing replacement.

After the delay:

1. Initialize the connector (K8s or Virtual based on --environment)
2. Validate deployment structure
3. Load profiling results
4. Build interpolators
5. Initialize load predictor
6. Enter main scaling loop

Performance Considerations

• Adjustment interval sizing: The interval must be long enough for scaling operations to complete. If adjustment_interval is shorter than the time to add/remove a worker (which includes pod scheduling, model loading, and registration), scaling decisions will overlap. Default of 180s is conservative; workloads with fast model loading can use shorter intervals.
• Correction factor stability: Correction factors are recalculated each interval. During traffic transitions (e.g., ramp-up), they can oscillate. The --no-correction flag disables correction for scenarios where cold-start artifacts dominate and distort the factor.
• Interpolation accuracy vs profiling cost: Higher prefillInterpolationGranularity and decodeInterpolationGranularity in the profiling sweep produce more accurate interpolation but increase profiling time linearly. Default granularity (16 prefill, 6 decode) balances accuracy with profiling duration.
• Predictor warm-up period: All predictors need observation history before making reliable forecasts. ARIMA and Prophet need multiple adjustment intervals of data. Kalman starts forecasting after --kalman-min-points observations. During warm-up, the planner uses the constant predictor as fallback.

Load-Based Scaling (Experimental)

The load-based mode uses real-time per-worker metrics from the router to make SLA-aware scaling decisions without requiring profiling data.

Metrics

The planner pulls per-worker load metrics directly from the frontend’s /metrics endpoint:

• Active prefill tokens: pending prefill tokens per worker
• Active decode blocks: active KV blocks per worker
• Last TTFT, ITL, ISL: most recent observed latencies per worker

Regression Model

A sliding-window linear regression maps load to latency:

• Prefill: (active_prefill_tokens + ISL) -> TTFT
• Decode: active_decode_blocks -> ITL

Given a TTFT/ITL SLA target, the model reverse-solves for the maximum load that satisfies the SLA.

Scaling Decisions

• Scale up: if ALL workers’ recent load exceeds the regression-derived target
• Scale down: if ALL workers’ recent load is below the target adjusted by (num_workers - 1) / num_workers * sensitivity / 100
• Only scales by +/-1 per interval (blocking)

Co-existence with Throughput-Based Scaling

When both modes are enabled, throughput-based scaling (longer interval) sets a lower bound on replicas while load-based scaling (shorter interval) handles real-time adjustments above that floor.

Aggregated Mode

In aggregated mode (--mode agg), engines handle both prefill and decode via chunked prefill. The planner maintains both TTFT and ITL regression models but uses per-worker time-averaged metrics (not instantaneous) for regression training to smooth out chunked prefill noise. Scale up if either prefill or decode signals overload; scale down only if both signal underload.

Known Limitations

1. 30-second startup delay: Hardcoded wait for component registration. It should be replaced with runtime readiness probing.
2. Adjustment interval vs scaling latency: If adjustment_interval < time to scale, scaling decisions can pile up. The planner logs warnings but doesn’t queue.
3. Average-based interpolation: Throughput-based scaling uses average ISL/OSL, which may not represent bimodal or heavy-tailed distributions well.
4. Single DGD scope: Each planner instance manages exactly one DGD. Multi-model/multi-DGD coordination is not supported.

Future Work

• Multi-DGD coordination for shared-cluster scenarios
• Distribution-aware interpolation (beyond mean ISL/OSL)
• Adaptive adjustment interval based on observed scaling latency

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