Cloud server with Open WebUI

Last update: October 05 2026Open in Markdown

Open WebUI Virtual Machine is a pre-configured cloud server with a tool for deploying and interacting with large language models (LLMs) via a web interface. The tool provides full control over the data being processed and supports advanced RAG.

The image from which the server is deployed contains:

• Open WebUI — an extensible web interface for working with LLMs that supports Ollama and OpenAI-compatible APIs;

• Ollama — a platform for locally downloading and running LLMs. Ollama is installed automatically only when creating a server with a GPU. For more information, see the subsection Minimum resource requirements;

• Open Terminal — a terminal that allows the model to execute commands and run scripts in an isolated Docker container from the Open WebUI interface;

• Docker — a platform for running containerized applications;

• Docker Compose — a tool for running multi-container applications in Docker;

• drivers required for working with graphics processing units (GPU).

Before creating a server, review the software license agreements included in the image.

Features

• deploying LLMs with full control over processed data;
• managing access to the web interface;
• interacting with LLMs via a chatbot;
• working with external data sources via built-in RAG;
• executing commands and scripts by the model in an isolated Docker container via Open Terminal.

Minimum resource requirements

vCPU count	2
RAM	8 GB
Boot volume	80 GB
GPU	Optional *

* Ollama is installed automatically only when creating a server with a GPU. Without a GPU, Open WebUI works as an interface for connecting only to external LLMs — running on other servers or via an API.

Get started with Open WebUI

For Open WebUI to work, the cloud server must be accessible from the internet. To do this, create a private subnet and attach a public floating IP address when creating the server.

1. Create a public floating IP address.

2. Create a cloud server with Open WebUI.

3. Create an administrator account.

4. Launch Open WebUI.

1. Create a public floating IP address

Create a public floating IP address to make the cloud server with Open WebUI accessible from the internet.

Use the Create a public floating IP address section of the Public floating IP addresses instructions.

2. Create a cloud server with Open WebUI

With GPU

1. In the Control panel, in the top menu, click Products and select Cloud servers.

2. Click Create server.

3. Fill in the blocks:

   • Name and location;
   • Source;
   • Configuration;
   • Drives;
   • Internet;
   • Private network;
   • Security;
   • Access;
   • Additional settings.

4. Check the cloud server price.

5. Click Create.

Name and location

1. Enter the server name. It will be set as the hostname in the operating system.

2. Select the location where the server will be created. The location determines the list of available server configurations and the resource cost. You cannot change the location after the server is created.

Source

1. Open the Applications tab.

2. Select Open WebUI VM.

3. Optional: if you need a different current or archived version of the application, select the desired version in the Version field.

Configuration

Select a configuration of the GPU line starting from 2 vCPUs, RAM from 8 GB, and boot disk size from 80 GB. Two types of server configurations are available for the line:

• fixed configurations — line configurations with different technical specifications where the resource ratio is fixed;
• custom configurations — configurations where you can specify any resource ratio.

Configurations use different processors depending on the line and pool segment. You can customize the selected configuration. After creating the server, you will be able to change the configuration.

Fixed configuration

1. Open the tab with the GPU line.

2. Click Fixed.

3. Optional: you can configure the configuration if you are creating a server in the ru-6 multizone pool segment or ru-3b, ru-7a, and ru-7b pool segments:

   3.1. Expand the block with the configuration settings description.

   3.2. Optional: select a processor vendor. Selecting a vendor is not available in all pools.

   3.3. Optional: if you do not want the cloud server vCPUs to be bound to physical processor cores, clear the Dedicated cores checkbox. Learn more in the Dedicated cores instructions.

   3.4. Optional: if you want to disable Hyper-Threading for a server with dedicated cores, clear the Hyper-Threading (SMT) checkbox.

   3.5. Optional: if you are creating a server with dedicated cores and want to place a multiprocessor server on a single NUMA node, select the Mandatory placement on a single NUMA node checkbox. A server with 4 vCPUs or more can be placed on a single NUMA node. If the cloud server resources cannot be placed on a single node, it will not be created. Learn more in the Placing on a single NUMA node section of the Dedicated cores instructions.

4. Select a GPU.

5. Select a configuration.

6. If both local and network drives are available in the selected configuration, select the drive to be used as a boot drive:

   • local drive — select the Local SSD NVMe drive checkbox. A server with a local drive can only be created from images and applications;
   • network drive — do not select the Local SSD NVMe drive checkbox.

   The amount of RAM allocated to the server may be less than specified in the configuration — the operating system kernel reserves part of the RAM depending on the kernel version and distribution. The allocated amount on the server can be checked using the sudo dmesg | grep Memory command.

Custom configuration

1. Open the tab with the GPU line.

2. Click Custom.

3. Optional: you can configure the configuration if you create a server in the multizone pool segment ru-6 or pool segments ru-3b, ru-7a, and ru-7b:

   3.1. Expand the block with the configuration settings description.

   3.2. Optional: select a processor vendor. Selecting a vendor is not available in all pools.

   3.3. Optional: if you do not want the cloud server vCPUs to be bound to physical processor cores, clear the Dedicated cores checkbox. Learn more in the Dedicated cores instructions.

   3.4. Optional: if you want to disable Hyper-Threading for a cloud server with dedicated cores, clear the Hyper-Threading (SMT) checkbox.

   3.5. Optional: if you are creating a cloud server with dedicated cores and want to place a multiprocessor server on a single NUMA node, select the Mandatory placement on a single NUMA node checkbox. A cloud server with 4 vCPUs or more can be placed on a single NUMA node. If the cloud server resources cannot be placed on a single node, it will not be created. Learn more in the Placing on a single NUMA node section of the Dedicated cores instructions.

4. Specify the number of vCPUs.

5. Specify the RAM size.

6. Select a GPU.

7. If both local and network drives are available in the selected configuration, select the drive to be used as a boot drive:

   • local drive — select the Local SSD NVMe drive checkbox. A server with a local drive can only be created from images and applications;
   • network drive — do not select the Local SSD NVMe drive checkbox.

   The amount of RAM allocated to the server may be less than specified in the configuration — the operating system kernel reserves part of the RAM depending on the kernel version and distribution. The allocated amount on the server can be checked using the sudo dmesg | grep Memory command.

Drives

1. If you did not select the Local SSD NVMe drive checkbox when configuring the configuration, the first specified network drive will be used as the server boot drive. To configure it:

   1.1. Select the network boot drive type.

   1.2. Specify the network boot drive size in GB or TB. Mind the network drive limits on the maximum size.

   1.3. If you selected the Universal v2 or Fast SSD v2 drive type, specify the total number of read and write operations in IOPS. After creating the drive, you can change the number of IOPS — decrease or increase it. The number of IOPS changes is not limited.

2. Optional: add an additional network drive for the server :

   2.1. Click Add.

   2.2. Select the network drive type.

   2.3. Specify the network disk size in GB or TB. Mind the network drive limits on the maximum size.

   2.4. If you selected the Universal v2 or Fast SSD v2 drive type, specify the total number of read and write operations in IOPS. After creating the drive, you can change the number of IOPS — decrease or increase it. The number of IOPS changes is not limited.

   After creating the server, you will be able to attach new additional drives.

Internet

Configure public access to the server.

The cloud server will be added to a private subnet connected to a cloud router with 1:1 NAT and internet access. Access to and from the internet will be provided through the cloud router. The server will be accessible from the internet via a public floating IP address.

1. In the Connect from the internet field, select the access type Public floating IP address.

2. Select the public floating IP address you created in step 1.

Private network

A cloud server can be added to an existing or a new private subnet.

Existing private subnet

1. In the Subnet field, select a private subnet.

2. Optional: in the IP address field, change the default IP address.

3. In the Router field, select an existing router or create a new one.

   If the router is not connected to the internet, it will be automatically connected to the internet after creating the server.

New private subnet

1. In the Subnet field, select New private subnet.

2. In the Network field, select an existing network or create a new one.

3. Optional: change the subnet CIDR.

4. Optional: in the IP address field, change the default IP address.

5. In the Router field, select an existing router or create a new one.

   If the router is not connected to the internet, it will be automatically connected to the internet after creating the server.

Security

Select security groups to filter traffic on the server ports. Without security groups, traffic will be denied. If the block is absent, traffic filtering (port security) is disabled on the server network. With traffic filtering disabled, all traffic will be allowed.

Access

1. Place a project SSH key on the server for secure connection:

   1.1. If the project SSH key has not been added to the cloud platform, click Add SSH key, enter a key name, paste the public key in OpenSSH format, and click Add.

   1.2. If the project SSH key has been added to the cloud platform, select an existing key in the SSH key field. The SSH key is only available in the pool where it is placed.

2. Optional: in the Password for root field:

   2.1. Copy the password of the root user — a user with unlimited permissions for all actions on the system.

   2.2. Save the password in a safe place and do not share it in plain text.

Additional settings

1. If you plan to create multiple servers and want to increase the fault tolerance of your infrastructure, add the server to a placement group:

   1.1. To create a new group, in the Placement group field, click Create.

   1.2. Select New group and enter the group name.

   1.3. Select a placement policy on different hosts:

   • preferred — soft-anti-affinity. The system will try to place the servers on different hosts. If there is no suitable host when creating the server, it will be created on the same host;
   • required — anti-affinity. Servers in the group are required to be placed on different hosts. If there is no suitable host when creating the server, the server will not be created.

   1.4. If the group has been created, select the placement group in the Placement group field.

2. To add additional information or filter servers in the list, add server tags. Operating system and configuration tags are added automatically. To add a new tag, enter a tag in the Tags field.

3. To add a script that will be executed using the cloud-init agent at the first startup of the operating system, in the Automation block, in the User data field:

   • open the Text tab and paste the script as text;
   • or open the File tab and upload the script file.

Without GPU

1. In the control panel, in the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Servers.

2. Click Create server.

3. Fill in the blocks:

   • Name and location;
   • Source;
   • Configuration;
   • Disks;
   • Internet;
   • Private network;
   • Security;
   • Access;
   • Additional settings.

4. Check the price of the cloud server.

5. Click Create.

Name and location

1. Enter the server name. It will be set as the hostname in the operating system.

2. Select the location where the server will be created. The list of available server configurations and resource costs depends on the location. After the server is created, the location cannot be changed.

Source

1. Open the Applications tab.

2. Select Open WebUI VM.

3. Optional: if you need another current or archived version of the application, in the Version field, select the desired version.

Configuration

Select a configuration starting from 2 vCPUs, RAM from 8 GB, and boot disk size from 80 GB. For all lines, except for Shared and Dedicated, two types of server configurations are available:

• fixed configurations — line configurations with different specifications, where the resource ratio is fixed;
• custom configurations — configurations where you can specify any resource ratio.

Different processors are used in configurations depending on the line and pool segment. You can customize the selected configuration. After creating the server, you will be able to change the configuration.

Fixed configuration

1. Open the tab with the line.

2. Click Fixed.

3. Optional: you can customize the configuration if you are creating a server in the ru-6 multizone pool segment or ru-3b, ru-7a, and ru-7b pool segments:

   3.1. Expand the block with the configuration settings description.

   3.2. Optional: select a processor vendor. Vendor selection is not available in all pools.

   3.3. Optional: if you do not want the physical processor cores to be pinned to the cloud server vCPUs, clear the Dedicated cores checkbox. For more information, see the Dedicated Cores instructions.

   3.4. Optional: if you want to disable Hyper-Threading for a server with dedicated cores, clear the Hyper-Threading (SMT) checkbox.

   3.5. Optional: if you are creating a server with dedicated cores and want to place a multiprocessor server on a single NUMA node, select the Mandatory placement on a single NUMA node checkbox. A server with 4 vCPUs or more can be placed on a single NUMA node. If the cloud server resources cannot be placed on a single node, it will not be created. For more information, see the Placement on a single NUMA node section of the Dedicated Cores instructions.

4. Select a configuration.

5. If both local and network drives are available in the selected configuration, select the drive to be used as the boot drive:

   • local drive — select the Local SSD NVMe drive checkbox. A server with a local drive can only be created from images and applications;
   • network drive — do not select the Local SSD NVMe drive checkbox.

   The amount of RAM allocated to the server may be less than specified in the configuration — the operating system kernel reserves part of the RAM depending on the kernel version and distribution. You can check the allocated amount on the server using the sudo dmesg | grep Memory command.

Custom configuration

1. Open the tab with the line.

2. Click Custom.

3. Optional: you can customize the configuration if you are creating a server in the ru-6 multizone pool segment or ru-3b, ru-7a, and ru-7b pool segments:

   3.1. Expand the block with the configuration settings description.

   3.2. Optional: select a processor vendor. Vendor selection is not available in all pools.

   3.3. Optional: if you do not want the physical processor cores to be pinned to the cloud server vCPUs, clear the Dedicated cores checkbox. For more information, see the Dedicated Cores instructions.

   3.4. Optional: if you want to disable Hyper-Threading for a cloud server with dedicated cores, clear the Hyper-Threading (SMT) checkbox.

   3.5. Optional: if you are creating a cloud server with dedicated cores and want to place a multiprocessor server on a single NUMA node, select the Mandatory placement on a single NUMA node checkbox. A cloud server with 4 vCPUs or more can be placed on a single NUMA node. If the cloud server resources cannot be placed on a single node, it will not be created. For more information, see the Placement on a single NUMA node section of the Dedicated Cores instructions.

4. Specify the number of vCPUs.

5. Specify the RAM size.

6. If you need to add GPUs to the server, click Add GPU, select the GPU type, and specify the number of GPUs. The selected line will change to the GPU line. If in the Source block you selected an image without GPU optimization and the Autoselect GPU image toggle is on, the selected image will automatically change to a GPU-optimized image.

7. If both local and network drives are available in the selected configuration, select the drive to be used as the boot drive:

   • local drive — select the Local SSD NVMe drive checkbox. A server with a local drive can only be created from images and applications;
   • network drive — do not select the Local SSD NVMe drive checkbox.

   The amount of RAM allocated to the server may be less than specified in the configuration — the operating system kernel reserves part of the RAM depending on the kernel version and distribution. You can check the allocated amount on the server using the sudo dmesg | grep Memory command.

Disks

1. If you did not select the Local SSD NVMe drive checkbox when configuring, the first specified network drive will be used as the server boot drive. To configure it:

   1.1. Select the boot network drive type.

   1.2. Specify the network boot drive size in GB or TB. Note the network drive limits on the maximum size.

   1.3. If you selected the Universal v2 or Fast SSD v2 drive type, specify the total number of read and write operations in IOPS. After creating the drive, you can change the number of IOPS — decrease or increase it. The number of IOPS changes is unlimited.

2. Optional: add an additional network drive of the server :

   2.1. Click Add.

   2.2. Select the network drive type.

   2.3. Specify the network disk size in GB or TB. Note the network drive limits on the maximum size.

   2.4. If you selected the Universal v2 or Fast SSD v2 drive type, specify the total number of read and write operations in IOPS. After creating the drive, you can change the number of IOPS — decrease or increase it. The number of IOPS changes is unlimited.

   After creating the server, you will be able to attach new additional drives.

Internet

Configure public access to the server.

The cloud server will be added to the private subnet connected to the cloud router with 1:1 NAT and internet access. Internet access to and from will be routed through the cloud router. The server will be accessible from the internet via a public floating IP address.

1. In the Internet connection field, select the Public floating IP address access type.

2. Select the public floating IP address you created in Step 1.

Private network

Existing private subnet

1. In the Subnet field, select a private subnet.

2. Optional: in the IP address field, change the default IP address.

3. In the Router field, select an existing router or create a new one.

   If the router is not connected to the internet, it will be automatically connected to the internet after creating the server.

New private subnet

1. In the Subnet field, select New private subnet.

2. In the Network field, select an existing network or create a new one.

3. Optional: change the subnet CIDR.

4. Optional: in the IP address field, change the default IP address.

5. In the Router field, select an existing router or create a new one.

   If the router is not connected to the internet, it will be automatically connected to the internet after creating the server.

Security

Select security groups to filter traffic on server ports. Without security groups, traffic will be blocked. If the block is missing, traffic filtering (port security) is disabled in the server network. With traffic filtering disabled, all traffic will be allowed.

Access

1. Place a project SSH key on the server for secure connection:

   1.1. If the project SSH key has not been added to the cloud platform, click Add SSH key, enter the key name, paste the public key in OpenSSH format, and click Add.

   1.2. If the project SSH key has been added to the cloud platform, in the SSH key field, select an existing key. The SSH key is only available in the pool where it is placed.

2. Optional: in the Password for "root" field:

   2.1. Copy the password of the root user — a user with unlimited rights to perform all actions on the system.

   2.2. Store the password in a secure place and do not share it in plain text.

Additional settings

1. If you plan to create multiple servers and want to increase infrastructure fault tolerance, add the server to a placement group:

   1.1. To create a new group, in the Placement group field, click Create.

   1.2. Select New group and enter the group name.

   1.3. Select a placement policy on different hosts:

   • optional — soft-anti-affinity. The system will try to place the servers on different hosts. If there is no suitable host when creating the server, it will be created on the same host;
   • mandatory — anti-affinity. Servers in the group must be located on different hosts. If no suitable host is available when creating the server, the server will not be created.

   1.4. If the group is created, in the Placement group field, select the placement group.

2. To add additional information or filter servers in the list, add server tags. Operating system and configuration tags are added automatically. To add a new tag, in the Tags field, enter the tag.

3. To add a script that will run using the cloud-init agent at the first operating system boot, in the Automation block, in the User data field:

   • open the Text tab and paste the script as text;
   • or open the File tab and upload the file with the script.

3. Create an administrator account

1. In a browser, open the page http://<ip_address>.

   Specify <ip_address> — the public floating IP address of the cloud server that you created in step 1.

2. In the Open WebUI web interface, click Let's get started.

3. Enter a username.

4. Enter an email address.

5. Enter a password.

6. Click Create Admin Account.

4. Launch Open WebUI

1. In a browser, open the page http://<ip_address>.

   Specify <ip_address> — the public floating IP address of the cloud server that you created in step 1.

2. Enter the administrator email address specified when creating the account in step 4.

3. Enter the administrator password specified when creating the account in step 5.

4. Click Sign In.