TensorRT-LLM Backend

The Triton backend for TensorRT-LLM. You can learn more about Triton backends in the backend repo. The goal of TensorRT-LLM Backend is to let you serve TensorRT-LLM models with Triton Inference Server. The inflight_batcher_llm directory contains the C++ implementation of the backend supporting inflight batching, paged attention and more.

Where can I ask general questions about Triton and Triton backends? Be sure to read all the information below as well as the general Triton documentation available in the main server repo. If you don't find your answer there you can ask questions on the issues page.

Accessing the TensorRT-LLM Backend

There are several ways to access the TensorRT-LLM Backend.

Run the Pre-built Docker Container

Starting with Triton 23.10 release, Triton includes a container with the TensorRT-LLM Backend and Python Backend. This container should have everything to run a TensorRT-LLM model. You can find this container on the Triton NGC page.

Build the Docker Container

Option 1. Build via the build.py Script in Server Repo

Starting with Triton 23.10 release, you can follow steps described in the Building With Docker guide and use the build.py script to build the TRT-LLM backend.

The below commands will build the same Triton TRT-LLM container as the one on the NGC.

# Prepare the TRT-LLM base image using the dockerfile from tensorrtllm_backend.
cd tensorrtllm_backend
git lfs install
git submodule update --init --recursive

# Specify the build args for the dockerfile.
BASE_IMAGE=nvcr.io/nvidia/tritonserver:24.05-py3-min
# Use the PyTorch package shipped with the PyTorch NGC container.
PYTORCH_IMAGE=nvcr.io/nvidia/pytorch:24.05-py3
TRT_VERSION=10.1.0.27
TRT_URL_x86=https://developer.nvidia.com/downloads/compute/machine-learning/tensorrt/10.1.0/tars/TensorRT-10.1.0.27.Linux.x86_64-gnu.cuda-12.4.tar.gz
TRT_URL_ARM=https://developer.nvidia.com/downloads/compute/machine-learning/tensorrt/10.1.0/tars/TensorRT-10.1.0.27.ubuntu-22.04.aarch64-gnu.cuda-12.4.tar.gz

docker build -t trtllm_base \
             --build-arg BASE_IMAGE="${BASE_IMAGE}" \
             --build-arg PYTORCH_IMAGE="${PYTORCH_IMAGE}" \
             --build-arg TRT_VER="${TRT_VERSION}" \
             --build-arg RELEASE_URL_TRT_x86="${TRT_URL_x86}" \
             --build-arg RELEASE_URL_TRT_ARM="${TRT_URL_ARM}" \
             -f dockerfile/Dockerfile.triton.trt_llm_backend .

# Run the build script from Triton Server repo. The flags for some features or
# endpoints can be removed if not needed. Please refer to the support matrix to
# see the aligned versions: https://docs.nvidia.com/deeplearning/frameworks/support-matrix/index.html
TRTLLM_BASE_IMAGE=trtllm_base
TENSORRTLLM_BACKEND_REPO_TAG=rel
PYTHON_BACKEND_REPO_TAG=r24.07

cd server
./build.py -v --no-container-interactive --enable-logging --enable-stats --enable-tracing \
              --enable-metrics --enable-gpu-metrics --enable-cpu-metrics \
              --filesystem=gcs --filesystem=s3 --filesystem=azure_storage \
              --endpoint=http --endpoint=grpc --endpoint=sagemaker --endpoint=vertex-ai \
              --backend=ensemble --enable-gpu --endpoint=http --endpoint=grpc \
              --no-container-pull \
              --image=base,${TRTLLM_BASE_IMAGE} \
              --backend=tensorrtllm:${TENSORRTLLM_BACKEND_REPO_TAG} \
              --backend=python:${PYTHON_BACKEND_REPO_TAG}

The TRTLLM_BASE_IMAGE is the base image that will be used to build the container. The TENSORRTLLM_BACKEND_REPO_TAG and PYTHON_BACKEND_REPO_TAG are the tags of the TensorRT-LLM backend and Python backend repositories that will be used to build the container. You can also remove the features or endpoints that you don't need by removing the corresponding flags.

Option 2. Build via Docker

The version of Triton Server used in this build option can be found in the Dockerfile.

# Update the submodules
cd tensorrtllm_backend
git lfs install
git submodule update --init --recursive

# Use the Dockerfile to build the backend in a container
# For x86_64
DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1 docker build -t triton_trt_llm -f dockerfile/Dockerfile.trt_llm_backend .
# For aarch64
DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1 docker build -t triton_trt_llm --build-arg TORCH_INSTALL_TYPE="src_non_cxx11_abi" -f dockerfile/Dockerfile.trt_llm_backend .

Using the TensorRT-LLM Backend

Below is an example of how to serve a TensorRT-LLM model with the Triton TensorRT-LLM Backend on a 4-GPU environment. The example uses the GPT model from the TensorRT-LLM repository.

Prepare TensorRT-LLM engines

You can skip this step if you already have the engines ready. Follow the guide in TensorRT-LLM repository for more details on how to to prepare the engines for deployment.

# Update the submodule TensorRT-LLM repository
git submodule update --init --recursive
git lfs install
git lfs pull

# TensorRT-LLM is required for generating engines. You can skip this step if
# you already have the package installed. If you are generating engines within
# the Triton container, you have to install the TRT-LLM package.
(cd tensorrt_llm &&
    bash docker/common/install_cmake.sh &&
    export PATH=/usr/local/cmake/bin:$PATH &&
    python3 ./scripts/build_wheel.py --trt_root="/usr/local/tensorrt" &&
    pip3 install ./build/tensorrt_llm*.whl)

# Go to the tensorrt_llm/examples/gpt directory
cd tensorrt_llm/examples/gpt

# Download weights from HuggingFace Transformers
rm -rf gpt2 && git clone https://huggingface.co/gpt2-medium gpt2
pushd gpt2 && rm pytorch_model.bin model.safetensors && wget -q https://huggingface.co/gpt2-medium/resolve/main/pytorch_model.bin && popd

# Convert weights from HF Tranformers to TensorRT-LLM checkpoint
python3 convert_checkpoint.py --model_dir gpt2 \
        --dtype float16 \
        --tp_size 4 \
        --output_dir ./c-model/gpt2/fp16/4-gpu

# Build TensorRT engines
trtllm-build --checkpoint_dir ./c-model/gpt2/fp16/4-gpu \
        --gpt_attention_plugin float16 \
        --remove_input_padding enable \
        --paged_kv_cache enable \
        --gemm_plugin float16 \
        --output_dir engines/fp16/4-gpu

Create the model repository

There are five models in the all_models/inflight_batcher_llm directory that will be used in this example:

preprocessing

This model is used for tokenizing, meaning the conversion from prompts(string) to input_ids(list of ints).

tensorrt_llm

This model is a wrapper of your TensorRT-LLM model and is used for inferencing. Input specification can be found here

postprocessing

This model is used for de-tokenizing, meaning the conversion from output_ids(list of ints) to outputs(string).

ensemble

This model can be used to chain the preprocessing, tensorrt_llm and postprocessing models together.

tensorrt_llm_bls

This model can also be used to chain the preprocessing, tensorrt_llm and postprocessing models together.

When using the BLS model instead of the ensemble, you should set the number of model instances to the maximum batch size supported by the TRT engine to allow concurrent request execution. This can be done by modifying the count value in the instance_group section of the BLS model config.pbtxt.

The BLS model has an optional parameter accumulate_tokens which can be used in streaming mode to call the postprocessing model with all accumulated tokens, instead of only one token. This might be necessary for certain tokenizers.

The BLS model supports speculative decoding. Target and draft triton models are set with the parameters tensorrt_llm_model_name tensorrt_llm_draft_model_name. Speculative decoding is performed by setting num_draft_tokens in the request. use_draft_logits may be set to use logits comparison speculative decoding. Note that return_generation_logits and return_context_logits are not supported when using speculative decoding. Also note that requests with batch size greater than 1 is not supported with speculative decoding right now.

BLS Inputs

BLS Outputs

To learn more about ensemble and BLS models, please see the Ensemble Models and Business Logic Scripting sections of the Triton Inference Server documentation.

# Create the model repository that will be used by the Triton server
cd tensorrtllm_backend
mkdir triton_model_repo

# Copy the example models to the model repository
cp -r all_models/inflight_batcher_llm/* triton_model_repo/

# Copy the TRT engine to triton_model_repo/tensorrt_llm/1/
cp tensorrt_llm/examples/gpt/engines/fp16/4-gpu/* triton_model_repo/tensorrt_llm/1

Modify the model configuration

The following table shows the fields that may to be modified before deployment:

triton_model_repo/preprocessing/config.pbtxt

triton_model_repo/tensorrt_llm/config.pbtxt

| Name | Description |