ollama LXC
Overview
| Property |
Value |
| Hostname |
ollama |
| IP Address |
192.168.0.231 |
| VMID |
108 |
| OS |
Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS (Noble Numbat) |
| Kernel |
6.17.4-1-pve |
| CPU |
4 cores |
| RAM |
8 GB |
| Swap |
512 MB |
| Disk |
35 GB (local-lvm, 77% used) |
| Purpose |
Local LLM inference server |
Running Services
| Service |
Description |
ollama.service |
Ollama LLM server |
ssh.service |
OpenSSH server |
rsyslog.service |
System logging |
Open Ports
| Port |
Protocol |
Service |
| 22 |
TCP |
SSH |
| 11434 |
TCP |
Ollama API (OLLAMA_HOST=0.0.0.0) |
Ollama
Version: 0.15.5
Binary: /usr/local/bin/ollama
Installed Models
| Model |
Size |
nomic-embed-text:latest |
274 MB |
Service Configuration
| Setting |
Value |
Description |
OLLAMA_HOST |
0.0.0.0 |
Listen on all interfaces (network-accessible) |
OLLAMA_INTEL_GPU |
true |
Enable Intel GPU acceleration |
OLLAMA_NUM_GPU |
999 |
Use all available GPU layers |
OLLAMA_ORIGINS |
* |
Allow requests from any origin (CORS) |
SYCL_CACHE_PERSISTENT |
1 |
Persistent SYCL kernel cache for Intel GPU |
ZES_ENABLE_SYSMAN |
1 |
Enable Intel oneAPI system management |
Intel GPU Passthrough
The LXC has /dev/dri/card0 and /dev/dri/renderD128 passed through from the Proxmox host, enabling Intel GPU acceleration for inference. Ollama uses the Intel oneAPI SYCL backend.
/dev/dri/card0 - Intel graphics card
/dev/dri/renderD128 - Intel render device (used for GPU compute)
API Usage
The Ollama API is available at http://192.168.0.231:11434 from the local network.
Example:
curl http://192.168.0.231:11434/api/generate \
-d '{"model": "llama3.1:8b", "prompt": "Hello"}'
Two Ollama Instances
This homelab runs two separate Ollama endpoints:
| Instance |
Address |
GPU |
Use case |
| Nobara workstation |
192.168.0.100:11434 |
RTX 2060 Super |
Primary AI inference - Karakeep tagging, Suggestarr LLM (qwen3:8b + nomic-embed-text) |
| This LXC |
192.168.0.231:11434 |
Intel integrated (SYCL) |
Backup / secondary endpoint (nomic-embed-text only) |
Lessons Learned
- Ubuntu instead of Debian: This LXC runs Ubuntu 24.04 rather than Debian 12. Ubuntu's wider hardware support package ecosystem made it easier to set up Intel GPU drivers and oneAPI toolkits.
- Intel GPU acceleration in an LXC: Requires passing through
/dev/dri/card0 and /dev/dri/renderD128 in the Proxmox config, plus the SYCL_CACHE_PERSISTENT and ZES_ENABLE_SYSMAN environment variables for the Intel SYCL backend. Without these, Ollama falls back to CPU-only inference.
- Disk usage: Previously at 77% with llama3.1:8b (4.9 GB). After removing it and keeping only nomic-embed-text (274 MB), disk usage dropped significantly.
OLLAMA_ORIGINS=* is permissive: Allowing all CORS origins is convenient for local development but means any page loaded in a browser on the LAN can make requests to the Ollama API. Acceptable for a homelab but worth noting.