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Reimaging a server reinstalls or replaces its operating system; it does not install DeepSeek. To run a model afterward, you must choose a compatible inference runtime and obtain the model weights—or use a hosted API instead. Start by identifying whether you control a physical server or a rented instance, then choose the DeepSeek model you intend to serve. Those decisions determine the recovery steps and the hardware you need.
Decide what you are reimaging—and what you want to run
A physical server and a rented server instance have different reinstall paths. On a physical machine, you may need console or boot access and installation media, if the hardware supports booting from USB. A rented instance is typically reinstalled through a provider-controlled dashboard or API; its exact steps depend on that provider. The official DeepSeek and vLLM documentation does not establish a universal provider reimage workflow, so follow the instructions for your specific service rather than assuming a generic boot sequence applies.
Before a destructive reinstall, confirm that you have backups and working recovery credentials. Then identify the exact model: a small or distilled model is not equivalent to full DeepSeek-V3, and their hardware needs differ substantially.
Choose hosted access or local serving
| Approach | What you do | Key consideration |
|---|---|---|
| Hosted API | Send requests to a hosted DeepSeek service using its documented API interface. | Avoids provisioning a local inference server, but depends on the hosted service and its current API model names. |
| Self-hosting | Install a runtime, obtain model weights, and serve the model on your own hardware. | Requires suitable memory, storage, networking, and hardware for the selected model and precision. |
DeepSeek’s API documentation currently names deepseek-flash and describes an API-compatible interface; model names can change, so check the official API documentation before configuring a client. For self-hosting, the model card and runtime documentation provide different paths: the DeepSeek-R1 model card demonstrates serving with vLLM or SGLang, and the vLLM recipes describe deployment options for DeepSeek-V3.
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Match the server to the model
Full DeepSeek-V3 is a multi-GPU deployment
The vLLM DeepSeek-V3 recipe describes a 671-billion-parameter mixture-of-experts model, with 37 billion parameters activated per token. Its documented FP8 configurations use 8× H200 GPUs or 8× MI300X, MI325X, or MI355X GPUs; the cited FP4 configuration uses 4× B200 GPUs. These are the specific configurations in that deployment recipe, not independent performance measurements or minimum requirements for every DeepSeek model. They must not be applied to smaller or distilled models.
CPU support does not make every model practical
vLLM documents CPU installation paths and requires Linux for CPU installation. That establishes a software path, not that a specific model will fit in a particular server’s memory or run at an acceptable speed. Consult the current vLLM CPU installation documentation, then verify the requirements for your chosen model and precision before reinstalling.
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Check the actual deployment requirements
- Confirm available system memory or GPU memory, storage capacity for the weights, and network capacity.
- Check the selected model’s license and the terms for any hosted service.
- Decide how requests and data will be handled, especially if the server is reachable beyond your own machine.
- Distinguish a single-machine configuration from a multi-GPU or multi-node setup; the cited full-V3 recipe is not a general recipe for smaller models.
Reinstall the operating system and set up serving
- Secure recovery first. Back up data you need, confirm console or provider-account access, and ensure you can recover credentials after the operating system is replaced.
- Use the correct reinstall process. For a physical server, use the hardware vendor’s boot and installation procedure if you have console access and the machine supports the required media. For a rented instance, use that provider’s documented reinstall controls. A provider-specific procedure is not established by the sources cited here.
- Install a supported operating system. If you plan to use vLLM’s CPU path, its documentation specifies Linux. Check the current runtime instructions for the operating system and hardware path you selected.
- Install and configure an inference runtime. Use the current official instructions for vLLM or SGLang where supported by the target model. Runtime commands and versions can change; copy them from the current documentation rather than relying on an old command.
- Obtain weights from the authoritative model repository. Verify the model identity, license, storage needs, and hardware fit before downloading. Alternatively, configure the hosted API rather than downloading weights.
- Test locally before network exposure. Confirm the service responds on the machine first. Serving instructions and hardware recipes do not by themselves provide a complete security-hardening guide.
What to verify before committing
- For physical hardware: you have console or boot access, a recovery plan, and installation media only if the server supports that method.
- For a rented instance: you know the provider’s specific reimage process and understand what data the reinstall removes.
- For the model: you have selected the exact model and precision rather than inferring full-V3 requirements from a smaller model—or the reverse.
- For self-hosting: the runtime, operating system, memory, storage, and GPU configuration align with the model’s current instructions.
- For API use: you have checked the current endpoint and model names in DeepSeek’s official documentation.
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