# Adaptive Multi-Objective Tiered Storage Configuration for KV Cache in LLM Service

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.08739 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.08739/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in KV cache optimization, one of 12 directions in Efficient LLM inference and serving.
- Builds on 17 of its 29 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 25 Feb 2026.

## Placed in

- Efficient LLM inference and serving / [KV cache optimization](https://mlsanity.com/inference/kv-cache-optimization/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 17 of 17)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [Language Models are Few-Shot Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.14165/) (2020)
- [Training language models to follow instructions with human feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.02155/) (2022)
- [Evaluating Large Language Models Trained on Code](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.03374/) (2021)
- [Efficient Memory Management for Large Language Model Serving with PagedAttention](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.06180/) (2023)
- [Prefix-Tuning: Optimizing Continuous Prompts for Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.00190/) (2021)
- [The Power of Scale for Parameter-Efficient Prompt Tuning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.08691/) (2021)
- [A Survey on Large Language Model based Autonomous Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.11432/) (2023)
- [SGLang: Efficient Execution of Structured Language Model Programs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.07104/) (2023)
- [Mooncake: A KVCache-centric Disaggregated Architecture for LLM Serving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.00079/) (2024)
- [Cost-Efficient Large Language Model Serving for Multi-turn Conversations with CachedAttention](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.19708/) (2024)
- [LMCache: An Efficient KV Cache Layer for Enterprise-Scale LLM Inference](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.09665/) (2025)
- [BurstGPT: A Real-world Workload Dataset to Optimize LLM Serving Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.17644/) (2024)
- [MemServe: Context Caching for Disaggregated LLM Serving with Elastic Memory Pool](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.17565/) (2024)
- [Stateful Large Language Model Serving with Pensieve](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.05516/) (2023)
- [Continuum: Efficient and Robust Multi-Turn LLM Agent Scheduling with KV Cache Time-to-Live](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.02230/) (2025)
- [KVCache Cache in the Wild: Characterizing and Optimizing KVCache Cache at a Large Cloud Provider](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.02634/) (2025)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Exact Memory-Time Optimization for Prefix-Cached Language Model Serving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.02766/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The memory-for-computation paradigm of KV caching is essential for accelerating large language model (LLM) inference service, but limited GPU high-bandwidth memory (HBM) capacity motivates offloading the KV cache to cheaper external storage tiers. While this expands capacity, it introduces the challenge of dynamically managing heterogeneous storage resources to balance cost, throughput, and latency under varying workloads. We formulate this as a multi-objective optimization problem: identifying the Pareto frontier across these metrics within the storage configuration space. Using a high-fidelity end-to-end simulator, we observe that the objective functions are non-analytic and exhibit complex variable coupling, making the Pareto frontier difficult to approximate analytically. To obtain the frontier, we introduce Kareto, a KV-cache Adaptive REsource managemenT Optimizer. Kareto leverages a diminishing-return-guided pruning method to efficiently navigate the large configuration space and approximate the Pareto frontier. Additionally, it incorporates a fine-grained adaptive tuner that uses eviction policies in tier storage and KV block access patterns for group-specific cache management, improving cache efficiency. Experiments on real-world traces show that Kareto adapts to workload and can identify configurations of better cost efficiency, covering static strategies. Compared to the fixed setup with 1024 GB DRAM, Kareto can improve throughput by up to 9.3%, or reduce latency by up to 58.3%, or lower cost by up to 20.2% under respective optimization objectives.