llm-d explained: disaggregated prefill and decode, KV-cache-aware routing and vLLM on Kubernetes, with cost math, an install path and where it beats a plain vLLM deployment.
Upgrading vLLM 0.28 to 0.30: Model Runner V2 is now default, MRV1 removal targeted for v0.32, new flags, removed env vars and a safe rollout checklist.
An AI inference cost optimization decision record: continuous batching, KV-cache, quantization, speculative decoding, spot GPUs, and autoscaling the inference path.