vLLM

This document describes how to configure your Google Kubernetes Engine deployment so that you can use Google Cloud Managed Service for Prometheus to collect metrics from vLLM. This document shows you how to do the following:

  • Set up vLLM to report metrics.
  • Configure a PodMonitoring resource for Managed Service for Prometheus to collect the exported metrics.
  • Access a dashboard in Cloud Monitoring to view the metrics.

These instructions apply only if you are using managed collection with Managed Service for Prometheus. If you are using self-deployed collection, then see the vLLM documentation for installation information.

These instructions are provided as an example and are expected to work in most Kubernetes environments. If you are having trouble installing an application or exporter due to restrictive security or organizational policies, then we recommend you consult open-source documentation for support.

For information about vLLM, see vLLM. For information about serving vLLM models on Google Kubernetes Engine, see the GKE set-up guide for vLLM.

Prerequisites

To collect metrics from vLLM by using Managed Service for Prometheus and managed collection, your deployment must meet the following requirements:

  • Your cluster must be running Google Kubernetes Engine version 1.21.4-gke.300 or later.
  • You must be running Managed Service for Prometheus with managed collection enabled. For more information, see Get started with managed collection.

vLLM exposes Prometheus-format metrics automatically; you do not have to install it separately. To verify that vLLM is emitting metrics on the expected endpoints, do the following:

  1. Set up port forwarding by using the following command: 
    kubectl -n NAMESPACE_NAME port-forward POD_NAME 8000
  2. Access the endpoint localhost:8000/metrics by using the browser or the curl utility in another terminal session.

Define a PodMonitoring resource

For target discovery, the Managed Service for Prometheus Operator requires a PodMonitoring resource that corresponds to vLLM in the same namespace.

You can use the following PodMonitoring configuration:

# Copyright 2025 Google LLC
#
# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
# You may obtain a copy of the License at
#
#     https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
#
# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
# limitations under the License.

apiVersion: monitoring.googleapis.com/v1
kind: PodMonitoring
metadata:
  name: vllm
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/name: vllm
    app.kubernetes.io/part-of: google-cloud-managed-prometheus
spec:
  endpoints:
  - port: 8000
    scheme: http
    interval: 30s
    path: /metrics
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: vllm-gemma-server
Ensure that the values of the port and matchLabels fields match those of the vLLM pods you want to monitor.

To apply configuration changes from a local file, run the following command: 

kubectl apply -n NAMESPACE_NAME -f FILE_NAME

You can also use Terraform to manage your configurations.

Verify the configuration

You can use Metrics Explorer to verify that you correctly configured vLLM. It might take one or two minutes for Cloud Monitoring to ingest your metrics.

To verify the metrics are ingested, do the following:

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the  Metrics explorer page:

    Go to Metrics explorer

    If you use the search bar to find this page, then select the result whose subheading is Monitoring.

  2. In the toolbar of the query-builder pane, select the button whose name is either  MQL or  PromQL.
  3. Verify that PromQL is selected in the Language toggle. The language toggle is in the same toolbar that lets you format your query.
  4. Enter and run the following query:
    up{job="vllm", cluster="CLUSTER_NAME", namespace="NAMESPACE_NAME"}

View dashboards

The Cloud Monitoring integration includes the vLLM Prometheus Overview dashboard. Dashboards are automatically installed when you configure the integration. You can also view static previews of dashboards without installing the integration.

To view an installed dashboard, do the following:

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the  Dashboards page:

    Go to Dashboards

    If you use the search bar to find this page, then select the result whose subheading is Monitoring.

  2. Select the Dashboard List tab.
  3. Choose the Integrations category.
  4. Click the name of the dashboard, for example, vLLM Prometheus Overview.

To view a static preview of the dashboard, do the following:

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the  Integrations page:

    Go to Integrations

    If you use the search bar to find this page, then select the result whose subheading is Monitoring.

  2. Click the Kubernetes Engine deployment-platform filter.
  3. Locate the vLLM integration and click View Details.
  4. Select the Dashboards tab.

Troubleshooting

For information about troubleshooting metric ingestion problems, see Problems with collection from exporters in Troubleshooting ingestion-side problems.