Self-Scaling LLM Infrastructure Powered by Rancher

Description
The Problem
Running LLMs can get expensive and complex pretty quickly.
Today there are typically two choices:
- Use cloud APIs like OpenAI or Anthropic. Easy to start with, but costs add up at scale.
- 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
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
- Cluster Autoscaler scales nodes up/down as needed
- Fleet keeps everything in sync via GitOps
Goals
- Provide a middle ground between cloud APIs and self-hosted LLMs
- Enable cost-efficient, privacy-preserving, and flexible LLM deployments
- Make LLM infrastructure easy to deploy and manage (Helm chart, GitOps)
- Support local development and production scaling
- Experiment with hybrid routing, serverless scaling, and GitOps automation
Resources
Features
- Packaged as a Helm chart: The entire stack is delivered as a Helm chart for easy deployment. See the project repository for setup instructions.
- Scale to Zero: No requests? No pods. No pods? No nodes (well, minimum 1). LLM infrastructure costs nothing when idle.
- Hybrid Routing: Simple requests can use public APIs, while complex or private queries are handled in-house, balancing cost and privacy.
- GitOps Native: Everything is Fleet bundles.
- Local Development Ready: Uses KIND + Docker provider for local dev. Same architecture that scales to production.
Tech Stack
- Rancher 2.13 - Cluster management (Turtles is now built-in!)
- Cluster API - Infrastructure as Kubernetes resources
- Knative Serving - Serverless pod autoscaling
- Ollama - Run LLMs locally
- LiteLLM - Unified LLM API gateway
- OpenWebUI - Chat interface
- Fleet - GitOps deployment
What's Next
This is a hackweek project, but here are ideas for the future:
- GPU node pools for production workloads
- Cloud provider templates (AWS/Azure/GCP)
- Smarter routing based on prompt complexity
- Cost tracking dashboard
- Response caching
Setup & Usage
For all setup and usage instructions, please refer to the project repository.
Why This Matters
LLMs are becoming a core part of many applications. But infrastructure options are still catching up.
This project explores a middle path:
- Privacy - run models locally, keep data in-house
- Cost efficiency - scale to zero, pay only for actual usage
- Flexibility - mix local and cloud models based on needs
- Simplicity - one command to deploy, GitOps to manage
It's an experiment in making LLM infrastructure more accessible and practical.
Updates
- Update 1: Pushed some project prototype I had before along with changes needed to run it on most recent Rancher version
- Update 2: Added multiple improvements for POC
Hackweek Results and Conclusion
Project Repository: github.com/alexander-demicev/llmserverless
The main conclusion is that it’s already possible to build something like this using the existing Rancher provisioning and management features. However, there are still a few questions and areas to improve for the future:
- The POC is based on Kubeadm, it can and should be migrated to RKE2.
- The SUSE AI stack wasn’t used for the sake of time efficiency, the goal was to assemble something that might currently be missing from it.
- Cluster Autoscaler is getting support in Rancher, so the POC should be updated to use the autoscaler setup recommended by Rancher.
- I’m not sure Knative is the best tool for self-scaling, maybe Keda would be a better alternative? I found Knative a bit complicated to configure and use, and it might be an overhead for the scope we have.
Looking for hackers with the skills:
This project is part of:
Hack Week 25
Activity
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Goals
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- Storage and versioning of trained models
- Automated deployment of new model versions
- Model inference API service
- Basic monitoring dashboards
Showcase a Go-based deployment automation component, which scans the model registry and automatically generates & applies Kubernetes manifests for new model versions.
Enable continuous improvement by making the system modular and extensible (e.g., additional models, metrics, autoscaling, or drift detection can be added later).
Prepare a short demo explaining the end-to-end process and how new models flow through the system.
Resources
Updates
- Training pipeline and datasets
- Inference Service py
Preparing KubeVirtBMC for project transfer to the KubeVirt organization by zchang
Description
KubeVirtBMC is preparing to transfer the project to the KubeVirt organization. One requirement is to enhance the modeling design's security. The current v1alpha1 API (the VirtualMachineBMC CRD) was designed during the proof-of-concept stage. It's immature and inherently insecure due to its cross-namespace object references, exposing security concerns from an RBAC perspective.
The other long-awaited feature is the ability to mount virtual media so that virtual machines can boot from remote ISO images.
Goals
- Deliver the v1beta1 API and its corresponding controller implementation
- Enable the Redfish virtual media mount function for KubeVirt virtual machines
Resources
- The KubeVirtBMC repo: https://github.com/starbops/kubevirtbmc
- The new v1beta1 API: https://github.com/starbops/kubevirtbmc/issues/83
- Redfish virtual media mount: https://github.com/starbops/kubevirtbmc/issues/44
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/
