用CXL技术让GPU直接访问大容量共享内存,显著提升大模型推理速度。
Beluga: A CXL-Based Memory Architecture for Scalable and Efficient LLM KVCache Management
- 通过CXL交换机构建跨CPU-GPU共享内存池,支持原生读写操作。
- 相比RDMA方案,首令牌延迟降低89.6%,吞吐提升7.35倍。
- 适合需要长上下文、高并发大模型推理的系统开发者使用。
大模型规模持续增长及长上下文推理需求使内存成为GPU加速服务系统的瓶颈。尽管GPU上的高带宽内存(HBM)访问速度快,但容量有限,需依赖主机内存(CPU DRAM)支撑如KVCache等更大工作集。然而,单个CPU插槽的内存通道数限制了最大DRAM容量。当前系统常采用基于RDMA的分离式内存池,带来高延迟、复杂通信协议与同步开销。新兴的CXL技术为此提供了新机遇。本文提出Beluga,一种新型内存架构,使GPU与CPU可通过CXL交换机访问共享的大规模内存池。该设计支持原生加载/存储语义,实现近本地内存延迟,同时降低编程复杂度并最小化同步开销。我们对商用CXL交换机内存池进行了系统性表征,并提出一套设计指南。基于此,我们实现了专用于大尺度KVCache管理的Beluga-KVCache系统。在vLLM推理引擎中,相比基于RDMA的方案,其首令牌延迟降低89.6%,吞吐提升7.35倍。据我们所知,Beluga是首个通过CXL交换机实现GPU直接访问大规模内存池的系统,标志着GPU低延迟共享海量内存资源的重要进展。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
The rapid increase in LLM model sizes and the growing demand for long-context inference have made memory a critical bottleneck in GPU-accelerated serving systems. Although high-bandwidth memory (HBM) on GPUs offers fast access, its limited capacity necessitates reliance on host memory (CPU DRAM) to support larger working sets such as the KVCache. However, the maximum DRAM capacity is constrained by the limited number of memory channels per CPU socket. To overcome this limitation, current systems often adopt RDMA-based disaggregated memory pools, which introduce significant challenges including high access latency, complex communication protocols, and synchronization overhead. Fortunately, the emerging CXL technology introduces new opportunities in KVCache design. In this paper, we propose Beluga, a novel memory architecture that enables GPUs and CPUs to access a shared, large-scale memory pool through CXL switches. By supporting native load/store access semantics over the CXL fabric, our design delivers near-local memory latency, while reducing programming complexity and minimizing synchronization overhead. We conduct a systematic characterization of a commercial CXL switch-based memory pool and propose a set of design guidelines. Based on Beluga, we design and implement Beluga-KVCache, a system tailored for managing the large-scale KVCache in LLM inference. Beluga-KVCache achieves an 89.6% reduction in Time-To-First-Token (TTFT) and 7.35x throughput improvement in the vLLM inference engine compared to RDMA-based solutions. To the best of our knowledge, Beluga is the first system that enables GPUs to directly access large-scale memory pools through CXL switches, marking a significant step toward low-latency, shared access to vast memory resources by GPUs.
Thank you to arXiv for use of its open access interoperability. PaperDance 不是 arXiv 官方产品;中文卡片由大模型生成,请以原文为准。