dynamo/deploy/helm

Manual Helm Deployment

This directory contains Helm charts for manually deploying Dynamo inference graphs to Kubernetes. This approach allows you to install Dynamo directly using a DynamoGraphDeploymentCRD values file, which is useful for quick deployments or testing specific configurations.

Prerequisites

• Helm 3.0+
• Kubernetes 1.16+
• ETCD v3.5+ (without auth)
• NATS v2.10+ (with jetstream enabled)
• Grove v0.1.0+ (optional if deploying using Grove)

Basic Installation

Here is how you would install a VLLM inference backend example.

helm upgrade --install dynamo-graph ./deploy/helm/chart -n dynamo-cloud -f ./components/backends/vllm/deploy/agg.yaml

Installation using Grove

Same example as above, but using Grove PodGangSet resources.

helm upgrade --install dynamo-graph ./deploy/helm/chart -n dynamo-cloud -f ./components/backends/vllm/deploy/agg.yaml --set deploymentType=grove

Customizable Properties

You can override the default configuration by setting the following properties:

helm upgrade --install dynamo-graph ./deploy/helm/chart -n dynamo-cloud \
  -f ./components/backends/vllm/deploy/agg.yaml \
  --set "imagePullSecrets[0].name=docker-secret-1" \
  --set etcdAddr="my-etcd-service:2379" \
  --set natsAddr="nats://my-nats-service:4222"

Available Properties

Property	Description	Example
imagePullSecrets	Array of image pull secrets for accessing private registries	imagePullSecrets[0].name=docker-secret-1
etcdAddr	Address of the etcd service	dynamo-platform-etcd:2379
natsAddr	Address of the NATS messaging service	nats://dynamo-platform-nats:4222
deploymentType	Type of deployment to use. Can be basic or grove. If not specified, basic is used.	deploymentType=grove

Feature Support Comparison

The following table shows which deployment features are supported by the Helm chart installation versus the Operator path:

Feature	Helm Chart	Operator	Description
Singlenode (k8sDeployments)	✅ Supported	✅ Supported	Single-node deployments using standard Kubernetes Deployments
Singlenode (Grove PodGangSet)	✅ Supported	✅ Supported	Single-node deployments using Grove PodGangSet resources
Multinode (Grove PodGangSet and LWS)	❌ Not Supported	✅ Supported	Multi-node deployments requiring Grove PodGangSet and LeaderWorkerSet (LWS)

Key Differences:

• Helm Chart: Best for simple single-node deployments and quick testing. Supports both basic Kubernetes deployments and Grove PodGangSet resources.
• Operator: Required for advanced multi-node deployments. Provides full feature support including complex distributed inference configurations.