Chad Feierstein

Linux - Ollama Installation

A comprehensive step-by-step guide for installing Ollama on Debian 12 with Apache2 reverse proxy, SSL encryption and HTTP Basic Authentication for secure public API usage.

Debian 12OllamaApache2SSL/TLSAPI

Important Notes

Please note these important points before setup

Root Access Required

Root access or sudo permissions are required for all installation steps

Domain Required

Valid domain with DNS configuration is necessary for SSL certificates

Firewall Configuration

Open ports 80 and 443 in your firewall for HTTP/HTTPS access

Secure Password

Use a strong password for API authentication

Create Backup

Backup all configuration files before making important changes

Hardware Requirements

At least 8GB RAM is recommended for running Ollama models

Setup Steps

Update package lists again
apt update -y && apt upgrade -y
Install basic packages
apt install sudo curl
Download and install Ollama
curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh
Download and test small test model
ollama run gemma3:4b
Open Ollama service configuration
systemctl edit ollama.service
override.conf
[Service]
Environment="OLLAMA_NUM_PARALLEL=6"
Environment="OLLAMA_MAX_QUEUE=512"
Environment="OLLAMA_MAX_LOADED_MODELS=3"
Reload systemd manager
sudo systemctl daemon-reexec
Reload Ollama service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
Restart Ollama service
sudo systemctl restart ollama
Check if Ollama is listening on port 11434
sudo ss -tulpen | grep 11434
Install Apache2 and SSL modules
sudo apt update && sudo apt install apache2 apache2-utils -y
Enable required Apache modules
sudo a2enmod proxy proxy_http ssl headers rewrite
Restart Apache2
sudo systemctl restart apache2
Install Certbot for Let's Encrypt
sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-apache -y
Request SSL certificate for domain
sudo certbot --apache -d server.chad.lu --register-unsafely-without-email
Create directory for auth files
sudo mkdir -p /etc/apache2/htpasswd
Create user with password for HTTP Basic Auth
sudo htpasswd -c /etc/apache2/htpasswd/ollama-api.htpasswd apiuser
Note: Enter a secure password when prompted
server.chad.lu.conf
<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName server.chad.lu
    Redirect permanent / https://server.chad.lu/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName server.chad.lu
    DocumentRoot /var/www/server.chad.lu

    <Directory /var/www/server.chad.lu>
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>

    # Rewrite-Rule for redirect outside of /ollama/
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/ollama/
    RewriteRule ^ https://www.chad.lu%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]

    # Proxy Ollama API
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    ProxyPass "/ollama/" "http://localhost:11434/"
    ProxyPassReverse "/ollama/" "http://localhost:11434/"

    <Location "/ollama/">
        AuthType Basic
        AuthName "Ollama API"
        AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/htpasswd/ollama-api.htpasswd
        Require valid-user
    </Location>

    # SSL configuration
    Include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-apache.conf
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/server.chad.lu/fullchain.pem
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/server.chad.lu/privkey.pem

    # Security headers
    Header always set Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=63072000; includeSubDomains"
    Header always set X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff"
    Header always set X-Frame-Options "DENY"
    Header always set X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block"
</VirtualHost>
Enable new site configuration
sudo a2ensite server.chad.lu.conf
Disable default Apache site
sudo a2dissite 000-default.conf
Disable default SSL site
sudo a2dissite 000-default-le-ssl.conf
Reload Apache configuration
sudo systemctl reload apache2
Test API endpoint with curl
curl -u apiuser https://server.chad.lu/ollama/api/generate -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"model": "gemma3:4b", "prompt": "Erzähl mir eine Geschichte.", "stream": true}'
Note: You will be prompted for the 'apiuser' password. On successful test, you will receive JSON responses with generated text fragments.

Troubleshooting

Common issues and their solutions

Installation Complete!

documentations.ollamaSetup.completion.description