Self-Scaling LLM Infrastructure Powered by Rancher by ademicev0

Self-Scaling LLM Infrastructure Powered by Rancher

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Description

The Problem

Running LLMs can get expensive and complex pretty quickly.

Today there are typically two choices:

1. Use cloud APIs like OpenAI or Anthropic. Easy to start with, but costs add up at scale.
2. Self-host everything - set up Kubernetes, figure out GPU scheduling, handle scaling, manage model serving... it's a lot of work.

What if there was a middle ground?

What if infrastructure scaled itself instead of making you scale it?

Can we use existing Rancher capabilities like CAPI, autoscaling, and GitOps to make this simpler instead of building everything from scratch?

Project Repository: github.com/alexander-demicev/llmserverless

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What This Project Does

A key feature is hybrid deployment: requests can be routed based on complexity or privacy needs. Simple or low-sensitivity queries can use public APIs (like OpenAI), while complex or private requests are handled in-house on local infrastructure. This flexibility allows balancing cost, privacy, and performance - using cloud for routine tasks and on-premises resources for sensitive or demanding workloads.

A complete, self-scaling LLM infrastructure that:

• Scales to zero when idle (no idle costs)
• Scales up automatically when requests come in
• Adds more nodes when needed, removes them when demand drops
• Runs on any infrastructure - laptop, bare metal, or cloud

Think of it as "serverless for LLMs" - focus on building, the infrastructure handles itself.

How It Works

A combination of open source tools working together:

Flow:

• Users interact with OpenWebUI (chat interface)
• Requests go to LiteLLM Gateway
• LiteLLM routes requests to:
  • Ollama (Knative) for local model inference (auto-scales pods)
  • Or cloud APIs for fallback

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Docs Navigator MCP: SUSE Edition by mackenzie.techdocs

Description

Docs Navigator MCP: SUSE Edition is an AI-powered documentation navigator that makes finding information across SUSE, Rancher, K3s, and RKE2 documentation effortless. Built as a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, it enables semantic search, intelligent Q&A, and documentation summarization using 100% open-source AI models (no API keys required!). The project also allows you to bring your own keys from Anthropic and Open AI for parallel processing.

Goals

• [ X ] Build functional MCP server with documentation tools
• [ X ] Implement semantic search with vector embeddings
• [ X ] Create user-friendly web interface
• [ X ] Optimize indexing performance (parallel processing)
• [ X ] Add SUSE branding and polish UX
• [ X ] Stretch Goal: Add more documentation sources
• [ X ] Stretch Goal: Implement document change detection for auto-updates

Coming Soon!

• Community Feedback: Test with real users and gather improvement suggestions

Resources

• Repository: Docs Navigator MCP: SUSE Edition GitHub
• UI Demo: Live UI Demo of Docs Navigator MCP: SUSE Edition

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Exploring Modern AI Trends and Kubernetes-Based AI Infrastructure by jluo

Description

Build a solid understanding of the current landscape of Artificial Intelligence and how modern cloud-native technologies—especially Kubernetes—support AI workloads.

Goals

Use Gemini Learning Mode to guide the exploration, surface relevant concepts, and structure the learning journey:

• Gain insight into the latest AI trends, tools, and architectural concepts.
• Understand how Kubernetes and related cloud-native technologies are used in the AI ecosystem (model training, deployment, orchestration, MLOps).

Resources

• Red Hat AI Topic Articles

  • https://www.redhat.com/en/topics/ai

• Kubeflow Documentation

  • https://www.kubeflow.org/docs/

• Q4 2025 CNCF Technology Landscape Radar report:

  • https://www.cncf.io/announcements/2025/11/11/cncf-and-slashdata-report-finds-leading-ai-tools-gaining-adoption-in-cloud-native-ecosystems/
  • https://www.cncf.io/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/cncfreporttechradar_111025a.pdf

• Agent-to-Agent (A2A) Protocol

  • https://developers.googleblog.com/en/a2a-a-new-era-of-agent-interoperability/

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Explore LLM evaluation metrics by thbertoldi

Description

Learn the best practices for evaluating LLM performance with an open-source framework such as DeepEval.

Goals

Curate the knowledge learned during practice and present it to colleagues.

-> Maybe publish a blog post on SUSE's blog?

Resources

https://deepeval.com

https://docs.pactflow.io/docs/bi-directional-contract-testing

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SUSE Edge Image Builder MCP by eminguez

Description

Based on my other hackweek project, SUSE Edge Image Builder's Json Schema I would like to build also a MCP to be able to generate EIB config files the AI way.

Realistically I don't think I'll be able to have something consumable at the end of this hackweek but at least I would like to start exploring MCPs, the difference between an API and MCP, etc.

Goals

• Familiarize myself with MCPs
• Unrealistic: Have an MCP that can generate an EIB config file

Resources

• https://hackweek.opensuse.org/25/projects/suse-edge-image-builder-json-schema
• Anything else :)

Result

https://github.com/e-minguez/eib-mcp

I've extensively used antigravity and its agent mode to code this. This heavily uses https://hackweek.opensuse.org/25/projects/suse-edge-image-builder-json-schema for the MCP to be built.

I've ended up learning a lot of things about "prompting", json schemas in general, some golang, MCPs and AI in general :)

Example:

Generate an Edge Image Builder configuration for an ISO image based on slmicro-6.2.iso, targeting x86_64 architecture. The output name should be 'my-edge-image' and it should install to /dev/sda. It should deploy a 3 nodes kubernetes cluster with nodes names "node1", "node2" and "node3" as: * hostname: node1, IP: 1.1.1.1, role: initializer * hostname: node2, IP: 1.1.1.2, role: agent * hostname: node3, IP: 1.1.1.3, role: agent The kubernetes version should be k3s 1.33.4-k3s1 and it should deploy a cert-manager helm chart (the latest one available according to https://cert-manager.io/docs/installation/helm/). It should create a user called "suse" with password "suse" and set ntp to "foo.ntp.org". The VIP address for the API should be 1.2.3.4

Generates:

``` apiVersion: "1.0" image: arch: x86_64 baseImage: slmicro-6.2.iso imageType: iso outputImageName: my-edge-image kubernetes: helm: charts: - name: cert-manager repositoryName: jetstack

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Exploring Modern AI Trends and Kubernetes-Based AI Infrastructure by jluo

Description

Build a solid understanding of the current landscape of Artificial Intelligence and how modern cloud-native technologies—especially Kubernetes—support AI workloads.

Goals

Use Gemini Learning Mode to guide the exploration, surface relevant concepts, and structure the learning journey:

• Gain insight into the latest AI trends, tools, and architectural concepts.
• Understand how Kubernetes and related cloud-native technologies are used in the AI ecosystem (model training, deployment, orchestration, MLOps).

Resources

• Red Hat AI Topic Articles

  • https://www.redhat.com/en/topics/ai

• Kubeflow Documentation

  • https://www.kubeflow.org/docs/

• Q4 2025 CNCF Technology Landscape Radar report:

  • https://www.cncf.io/announcements/2025/11/11/cncf-and-slashdata-report-finds-leading-ai-tools-gaining-adoption-in-cloud-native-ecosystems/
  • https://www.cncf.io/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/cncfreporttechradar_111025a.pdf

• Agent-to-Agent (A2A) Protocol

  • https://developers.googleblog.com/en/a2a-a-new-era-of-agent-interoperability/

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Kubernetes-Based ML Lifecycle Automation by lmiranda

Description

This project aims to build a complete end-to-end Machine Learning pipeline running entirely on Kubernetes, using Go, and containerized ML components.

The pipeline will automate the lifecycle of a machine learning model, including:

• Data ingestion/collection
• Model training as a Kubernetes Job
• Model artifact storage in an S3-compatible registry (e.g. Minio)
• A Go-based deployment controller that automatically deploys new model versions to Kubernetes using Rancher
• A lightweight inference service that loads and serves the latest model
• Monitoring of model performance and service health through Prometheus/Grafana

The outcome is a working prototype of an MLOps workflow that demonstrates how AI workloads can be trained, versioned, deployed, and monitored using the Kubernetes ecosystem.

Goals

By the end of Hack Week, the project should:

1. Produce a fully functional ML pipeline running on Kubernetes with:

   • Data collection job
   • Training job container
   • Storage and versioning of trained models
   • Automated deployment of new model versions
   • Model inference API service
   • Basic monitoring dashboards

2. Showcase a Go-based deployment automation component, which scans the model registry and automatically generates & applies Kubernetes manifests for new model versions.

3. Enable continuous improvement by making the system modular and extensible (e.g., additional models, metrics, autoscaling, or drift detection can be added later).

4. Prepare a short demo explaining the end-to-end process and how new models flow through the system.

Resources

Project Repository

Updates

1. Training pipeline and datasets
2. Inference Service py

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Create a Cloud-Native policy engine with notifying capabilities to optimize resource usage by gbazzotti

Description

The goal of this project is to begin the initial phase of development of an all-in-one Cloud-Native Policy Engine that notifies resource owners when their resources infringe predetermined policies. This was inspired by a current issue in the CES-SRE Team where other solutions seemed to not exactly correspond to the needs of the specific workloads running on the Public Cloud Team space.

The initial architecture can be checked out on the Repository listed under Resources.

Among the features that will differ this project from other monitoring/notification systems:

• Pre-defined sensible policies written at the software-level, avoiding a learning curve by requiring users to write their own policies
• All-in-one functionality: logging, mailing and all other actions are not required to install any additional plugins/packages
• Easy account management, being able to parse all required configuration by a single JSON file
• Eliminate integrations by not requiring metrics to go through a data-agreggator

Goals

• Create a minimal working prototype following the workflow specified on the documentation
• Provide instructions on installation/usage
• Work on email notifying capabilities

Resources

• GitHub Repository

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