[CNCF LFX Proposal] Volcano - Advanced Kthena Workload Lifecycle Management, Routing Visibility, and Operational Observability in Volcano Dashboard

[de6p]

CNCF Project

Volcano

Term

2026 Term 3 (Sep-Nov)

Program Name

Kthena LLM Resource Management in Volcano Dashboard

Program Description

• Description: Volcano Dashboard already supports Jobs, Queues, Pods, and PodGroups, but Kthena LLM workloads still depend heavily on kubectl and separate tooling for day-to-day operations. This project extends the dashboard into a richer operational interface for Kthena by bringing core serving resources into the UI and improving how users inspect, manage, and troubleshoot inference workloads. The mentee should study the existing dashboard architecture and Kthena resource model, then design an experience that covers not only resource management but also deeper operational workflows such as serving status visualization, routing visibility, rollout awareness, resource relationships, and troubleshooting context across Kthena, Volcano, and Kubernetes objects.

• Expected Outcome:

  • Dashboard support for major Kthena resources such as ModelServing, ModelBooster, ModelRoute, and ModelServer.
  • UI workflows for inspecting and managing those resources.
  • Clear visibility into conditions, replicas, rollout state, and relationships to related Pods, PodGroups, Queues, and other underlying resources.
  • Improved operational and troubleshooting workflows, including routing visibility and serving health context.
  • Required RBAC and deployment updates for practical cluster usage.
  • Tests and user-facing documentation.

Technologies

TypeScript, React, Next.js, Kubernetes API, observability basics, familiarity with Volcano and Kthena

Skills same as Technologies?

• Yes, the required skills are the same as the technologies listed above.

Required/Desirable Skills

No response

Mentors

ZhenCheng Lee | @LiZhenCheng9527 | lizhencheng6@huawei.com| LiZhenCheng9527

Kuldeep Singh | @de6p | de6p97@gmail.com | 05cc0d01-c938-4a18-951e-af71be282b2b

Zicong Chen (Jesse Stutler) | @JesseStutler | jessestutler97@gmail.com| ca54663f-6e7b-4839-a779-eaafb23aab59

Upstream Issue URL

volcano-sh/dashboard#307

Application Prerequisites

• Resume
• Cover Letter
• School Enrollment Verification
• Participation Permission from school or employer
• Coding Challenge
• Custom Prerequisite (fill in details below)

Coding Challenge URL

volcano-sh/dashboard#308

Custom Prerequisite Name

Dashboard Authn/z

Custom Prerequisite Description

Applicants should review this issue and submit a short technical design covering:

1. proposed auth approach for Volcano Dashboard,
2. how user identity maps to Kubernetes RBAC,
3. how the UI should behave for unauthorized access,
4. a high-level implementation and test plan.

Custom Prerequisite — File Upload

• Yes — completion of this task requires the mentee to submit a file.

[github-actions]

🤖 LFX Proposal Validation

LFX program title (81/100 chars):

CNCF - Volcano: Kthena LLM Resource Management in Volcano Dashboard (2026 Term 3)

✅ All checks passed.

⚠️ 1 warning(s):

• LFX LFID/email verification is not yet automated. Please manually confirm mentor emails are registered on https://mentorship.lfx.linuxfoundation.org.

✅ Passed checks

• CNCF Project: Volcano
• Term: 2026 Term 3 (Sep-Nov)
• Program Name length: 51/70 chars available
• Program Description: 1338/3000 chars
• Technologies: TypeScript, React, Next.js, Kubernetes API, observability basics, familiarity with Volcano and Kthena
• Skills: same as Technologies
• Mentors: 3 listed (primary: ZhenCheng Lee)
• Upstream Issue URL: Kthena LLM Resource Management in Volcano Dashboard volcano-sh/dashboard#307
• Custom Prerequisite: name 17/20 chars, description 275/500 chars
• Quota: 4/4 proposals for Volcano in 2026 Term 3 (Sep-Nov)

What happens next

1. Maintainer approval — ⏳ a project maintainer (or authorized delegate) comments /approve.
2. Mentor confirmation — ⏳ 1 of 3 confirmed; @de6p auto-counted as proposer. Awaiting /confirm from @LiZhenCheng9527, @JesseStutler.
3. CNCF approval — ⏳ a CNCF admin comments /cncf-approve to finalize.

Proposal process guide

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Re-run by editing the issue.

[JesseStutler]

@de6p Please check the comment: #2009 (comment)