Frank
8500600d09
The 2026-09-26 same-day cutover that ended the Lucebox DS4.1 detour:
Dankserver's :7770 endpoint is now unsloth llama.cpp (the b11030-mix
prebuilt, ROCm gfx120X, bundled runtime) serving
unsloth/Qwen3.8-Flash-Next-GGUF at Q8_0 — 175.30 GiB across six sha256-
verified split parts — on both Radeon AI PRO R9700s, as a ROOT unit (the
frank-large shape: no container, no generated unit).
The deployed contract:
- Placement law: layer split -ts 1,1 with -ngl 999; the routed experts
and the 51B-param n-gram (PLE) table are COMPUTED in host RAM via
-ot exps=CPU,ngram_embeddings=CPU (the x4-pair measurement: streaming
over PCIe loses at 3.7 t/s, computing in RAM does not care).
per_layer_token_embd.weight=CPU is required by the shared MTP head's
borrow path (a GPU-resident borrow crashes the draft load).
mmap stays on; --cache-ram 16384.
- Spec chain draft-mtp,ngram-mod: the shared Q8_0 MTP head
(mtp-...-shared-Q8_0.gguf, 2,786,568,256 B) at depth 2, with the
draftless ngram-mod matcher chained behind it — the only legal way to
layer two spec implementations in one process.
- Vision explicit: --mmproj names the BF16 projector (this build never
autoloads; a server without it comes up healthy and text-only).
- Reasoning: --reasoning-format deepseek → reasoning_content; the
Qwen3.8 template's {xhigh, medium, low} reasoning_effort gate folded
by reasoningEffortMap in models.yml.
- One stream, the model's full 262,144 context; greedy server default
with Qwen-recommended sampling riding compat.extraBody.
The deployer's deploy_llm_primary is rewritten for the root unit: it
gates every artifact at its declared byte count (stat -c %s, never wc -c
— which read the whole 377 GiB lucebox file for minutes on 2026-09-26),
retires the lucebox user quadlet to dated home trash, waits out port
7770, relinks/enables/restarts the root unit and waits up to 1800 s for
/health. The quadlet-era tree under dankserver/frank-primary/ is
archived (dankserver/.AGENTTRASH/20260926-llamacpp-cutover/ on this
box; git history everywhere else) and its planner mapping replaced by
the scripts/ trio.
Observability flips back to the llamacpp namespace: a frank-primary
Prometheus job at 192.168.0.235:7770 (cross-host LAN — the netavark
published-port quirk that forces host.containers.internal for the two
Dankclaw endpoints is same-host only), the LlmEndpointDown runbook
text, and the dashboard description for three llama.cpp endpoints.
Docs: the new runbook (frank-primary-llamacpp-qwen38-flash-next-q8.md),
RETIRED banners on the lucebox and radiance runbooks and their index
entries, the AGENTS.md fleet section rewritten for the root-unit shape,
and the homepage frank-medium card renamed to frank-primary with the
Q8_0 Flash-Next spec (docs.html #models and the modality note updated:
images on frank-primary and frank-small, audio on frank-small only).
models.yml: the dankserver provider is "llamacpp (dankserver)" serving
frank-primary, contextWindow 262144, maxTokens 65536 (compaction-gap
law: 183,501 + 65,536 <= 262,144), input [text, image].
Suite: 346 green (frank_primary_unit.bats rewritten for the root unit —
16 tests pinning the placement law, the shared-head requirement, the
explicit projector, HIP env hygiene (BIND_HOST, never bare HOST), and
the deployer's byte-count gates; the quadlet-era planner and
changed-tests mappings rewritten for the trio; the observability scrape
test asserts three llamacpp jobs again).
Rollback: the lucebox image (localhost/lucebox-rocm:gfx1201) and the
378 GiB payload stay on the host; the Qwen payload stays fetched, so a
re-swap in either direction is a redeploy, not a refetch.
136 lines
7.4 KiB
Markdown
136 lines
7.4 KiB
Markdown
---
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type: configuration
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title: frank-primary llama.cpp Qwen3.8-Flash-Next Q8_0 Runbook
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description: ACTIVE frank-primary runbook — unsloth llama.cpp (the b11030-mix prebuilt, ROCm gfx120X, bundled runtime, root systemd unit) serving unsloth/Qwen3.8-Flash-Next-GGUF at Q8_0 (175.3 GiB across six split parts) on Dankserver's two Radeon AI PRO R9700s (gfx1201), with the shared Q8_0 MTP drafter (depth 2) chained behind ngram-mod, BF16 vision, and the routed experts + 51B-param n-gram embedding table computed in host RAM. Port 7770, one stream, full 262,144 ctx. Cutover 2026-09-26, replacing the same-day Lucebox DS4.1 deployment.
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tags:
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- frank-primary
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- dankserver
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- llamacpp
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- unsloth
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- qwen38-flash-next
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- q8_0
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- mtp
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- ngram-mod
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- spec-decode
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- vision
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- rocm
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- gfx1201
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- r9700
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timestamp: 2026-09-26
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---
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# frank-primary llama.cpp Qwen3.8-Flash-Next Q8_0 Runbook
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The ACTIVE dankserver LLM endpoint (:7770, alias **frank-primary**):
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unsloth llama.cpp serving `unsloth/Qwen3.8-Flash-Next-GGUF` at **Q_8**
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(the 6-part `Q8_0/` main, 175.30 GiB) on **both** Radeon AI PRO R9700s,
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with the **shared Q_8 MTP drafter** (`draft-mtp`, depth 2) layered with
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**`ngram-mod`**, and **vision** through `mmproj-BF16.gguf`. It replaces the
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Lucebox DS4.1 quadlet that held the port for hours earlier the same day
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([[frank-primary-lucebox-ds4]]), which itself replaced
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[[frank-medium-radiance-mxfp4]].
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## Why this shape
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- **One runtime for the fleet.** All three endpoints are llama.cpp now —
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one metric namespace (`llamacpp:*`), one reasoning contract
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(`reasoning_content`), one tool contract (`--jinja`). The two-day
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experiment with a single-vendor engine (lucebox) ended because Qwen
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Flash-Next at Q8 on llama.cpp delivers better quality than the DS4.1
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fp2/fp3 stream, plus vision, plus the full 262k window, at comparable
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speed.
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- **The placement law, not a preference:** the routed experts and the
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51B-param n-gram (PLE) embedding table are **computed in host RAM**
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(`-ot exps=CPU,ngram_embeddings=CPU`) and never streamed over PCIe. The
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x4-pair measurement on the same model shape: streaming loses (3.7 t/s),
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computing in RAM does not care (20+ t/s). The dense weights, attention,
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projector and MTP head sit on the two cards (~29 GiB); the ~100 GiB of
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expert pages live in mmap page cache — `--no-mmap` is forbidden (it
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forces the table into anonymous memory; the cgroup kill is silent) and
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pinning the PLE table with a GPU target cost 23 → 13.4 t/s when tried.
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- **Two cards, layer split** (`-ts 1,1`): both R9700s are on CPU root
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ports with full PCIe atomics (the ProArt B850-Creator swap,
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2026-09-20), but this deployment uses llama.cpp's layer split —
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`-ot` tensor overrides do not compose with tensor-parallel mode, and
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`exps=CPU` is the override the placement law needs. The 27B-dense
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equivalent on this host measured 1991 t/s prefill / 18.8 t/s decode in
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this shape; Flash-Next Q8 with CPU experts lands in the same class
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(measured numbers below).
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- **Spec chain: `draft-mtp,ngram-mod`.** MTP is a property of the FILE:
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the shared-Q8_0 head (`mtp-Qwen3.8-Flash-Next-shared-Q8_0.gguf`,
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2,786,568,256 B) is loaded via `--model-draft` and borrows the target's
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embedding tensors — which is why `per_layer_token_embd.weight` must be
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CPU-resident in the override set (a GPU-resident borrow crashes the
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draft load with `invalid vector subscript`). `ngram-mod` is draftless,
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so it chains legally behind the drafter. Depth 2: each longer
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verification round re-batches the CPU expert reads, so depth buys less
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than bandwidth here.
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- **Vision, explicitly.** This build never autoloads projectors — without
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`--mmproj` the server comes up healthy and text-only and answers image
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requests with 500 (the frank-medium 2026-09-17 trap). The BF16 projector
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(907,542,944 B) is named in the serve script.
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## Deployment
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|Piece|Value|
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|---|---|
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|Unit|`scripts/frank-primary.service` — root systemd unit, `User=dank`, `Restart=on-failure`, `LimitMEMLOCK=infinity`, relinked to `/etc/systemd/system/`|
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|Serve script|`scripts/serve-frank-primary.sh` — validates binary + all 6 parts + drafter + mmproj before exec|
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|Env tunables|`scripts/frank-primary.env` — paths and numbers only; bind is `BIND_HOST` (never a bare `HOST`: HIP reads it)|
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|Runtime|`/home/dank/GitPackages/unsloth-llama-b11030/llama-server` — unsloth b11030-mix prebuilt (commit 6ba30d05b), ROCm gfx120X, bundled runtime via `LD_LIBRARY_PATH`|
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|Payload|`/home/dank/models/Qwen3.8-Flash-Next-GGUF/` — `Q8_0/` (6 parts), `MTP/mtp-...-shared-Q8_0.gguf`, `mmproj-BF16.gguf`; fetched by `scripts/download-frank-primary.sh` (sha256 + byte-count verified)|
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|Port / alias|7770 / `frank-primary` — unchanged from the lucebox and radiance eras; no client moves|
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|Context|262,144 × 1 slot (`PARALLEL_SLOTS=1`, one stream, the model's full native window)|
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|Sampling|Greedy server default (deterministic e2e); Qwen-recommended sampling rides `models.yml` `compat.extraBody` per request|
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|Template|The GGUF's embedded template via `--jinja`; reasoning → `reasoning_content` (`--reasoning-format deepseek`)|
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|Observability|`frank-primary` Prometheus job at `192.168.0.235:7770` — cross-host LAN scrape (the netavark published-port quirk that forces `host.containers.internal` is same-host only); exports `llamacpp:*`|
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### Cutover mechanics
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The deployer (`deploy_llm_primary` in `scripts/deploy-remote.sh`) gates on
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every artifact at its declared byte count (`stat -c %s`, never `wc -c` —
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which read the whole 377 GiB lucebox file for minutes on 2026-09-26),
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retires the lucebox user quadlet to dated home trash
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(`~/.AGENTTRASH/20260926-llamacpp-cutover/`), waits for port 7770 to be
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truly free, relinks + enables + restarts the root unit, and waits up to
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1800 s for `/health` (cold start page-ins ~175 GiB and builds the graphs).
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## Verification (2026-09-26 deploy)
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- `/v1/models` reports `frank-primary`.
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- Chat completion returns `content` + `reasoning_content`.
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- Tool call returns well-formed `tool_calls` (`--jinja`).
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- Real image request answered from the projector (not a health check —
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health cannot see vision).
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- Spec chain live: `draft acceptance` lines in the unit journal; ngram-mod
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has no startup banner (identify behaviourally: `draft_n` > 0 where text
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repeats).
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- `reasoning_effort: high` → 200 (the template's `{xhigh, medium, low}`
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gate is folded by `reasoningEffortMap` in `models.yml`).
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- VRAM/RAM headroom: `rocm-smi` per card + `free -g` after the first long
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completion.
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_Measured numbers land here after the deploy battery._
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## Rollback
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The lucebox DS4.1 material is fully retained on the host: image
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`localhost/lucebox-rocm:gfx1201`, the 378 GiB payload, and the quadlet-era
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repo files in `dankserver/.AGENTTRASH/20260926-llamacpp-cutover/` (see
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[[frank-primary-lucebox-ds4]]). Restore = move the `.container` back,
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uninstall the root unit (`systemctl disable --now frank-primary` — the
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link, not the file; never `systemctl disable` a unit whose file must
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survive), `daemon-reload`, start the user quadlet. The Qwen payload
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(~179 GiB) stays fetched, so a forward re-swap is a redeploy, not a
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refetch.
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## Fleet context
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- [[frank-large-unsloth-qwen38-27b-q8xl]] — Dankclaw :7770, the same
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b11030-mix binary family on gfx1151.
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- [[frank-small-gemma4-12b]] — Dankclaw :7771, mainline llama.cpp on the
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3090; the only audio-capable endpoint.
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- The harness contract lives in `/home/blank/.omp/agent/models.yml`
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(`llamacpp (dankserver)` provider, `contextWindow 262144`,
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`maxTokens 65536`, `input: [text, image]`).
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