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Cloud server with Open WebUI VM

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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 processed data and support for advanced RAG.

The image from which the server is deployed contains:

  • Open WebUI — an extensible web interface for working with LLMs, supporting 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. Learn more in the Minimum resource requirements section;

  • 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, read the software license agreements included in the image.

Use cases

  • deploying LLMs with full control over the data being processed;
  • managing access to the web interface;
  • interacting with LLMs via a chatbot;
  • working with external data sources via integrated RAG.

Minimum resource requirements

Number of vCPUs2
RAM8 GB
Boot volume80 GB
GPUOptional *

* 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 — those running on other servers or via API.

Create a cloud server with Open WebUI VM

  1. In the Control panel, on the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Servers.

  2. Click Create server.

  3. Fill in the blocks:

  4. Check the cloud server price.

  5. Click Create.

Name and placement

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

  2. Select the location where the server will be created. The available server configuration list and resource costs depend on the location. You cannot change the location after the server is created.

Source

  1. Open the Applications tab.

  2. Select Open WebUI.

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

Configuration

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

  • prebuilt configurations — range configurations with different specifications, in which the resource ratio is fixed;
  • custom configurations — configurations in which any resource ratio can be specified.

Different processors are used in configurations depending on the range and pool segment. You can configure the selected configuration. After the server is created, you will be able to change the configuration.

  1. Open the tab with the GPU range.

  2. Click Prebuilt.

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

    3.1. Expand the block with the configuration settings description.

    3.2. Optional: select the processor manufacturer. Manufacturer selection is not available in all pools.

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

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

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

  4. Select GPU.

  5. Select a configuration.

  6. If both local and network volumes are available in the selected configuration, select the volume to be used as the boot disk:

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

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

Volumes

  1. If you did not check the Local SSD NVMe disk checkbox when setting up the configuration, the first specified network volume will be used as the server boot disk. To configure it:

    1.1. Select the network boot disk type.

    1.2. Specify the network boot disk size in GB or TB. Observe the maximum size limits for network volumes.

    1.3. If you chose the Universal v2 or Fast SSD v2 volume type, specify the total number of read and write operations in IOPS. After the volume is created, you can change the IOPS value — decrease or increase. There is no limit on the number of IOPS changes.

  2. Optional: add an additional network volume server :

    2.1. Click Add.

    2.2. Select the network volume type.

    2.3. Specify the size of the network disk in GB or TB. Observe the maximum size limits for network volumes.

    2.4. If you chose the Universal v2 or Fast SSD v2 volume type, specify the total number of read and write operations in IOPS. After the volume is created, you can change the IOPS value — decrease or increase. There is no limit on the number of IOPS changes.

    Once the server is created, you will be able to attach new additional volumes.

Network

The server can be added to a new or existing subnet. A subnet can be:

  • private — a subnet without internet access or with one static public IP address. The IP address connects to the server that will be accessible from the internet;
  • public — a subnet where all addresses are accessible from the internet.

  1. Click Private subnet.

  2. In the Public IP address for internet access field, select the subnet type:

    • New public IP address — a private subnet with a static public IP address. Only the server with the connected public IP address will be accessible from the internet;
    • No public IP address — a private subnet without internet access. You will not be able to connect to the server from the internet, including via SSH or RDP.

  3. To add a server to an existing private subnet:

    3.1. Expand the block with private subnet settings.

    3.2. In the Subnet field, select an existing subnet.

    3.3. In the Private IP field, specify the server private IP address. For a private subnet with a public IP address, the public address will be automatically connected to the private address;

  4. To add a server to a new private subnet in an existing network:

    4.1. Expand the block with private subnet settings.

    4.2. In the Subnet field, select New subnet.

    4.3. Optional: change the subnet CIDR.

    4.4. Optional: turn on the DHCP toggle.

    4.5. Optional: in the Gateway field, change the default gateway IP address.

    4.6. In the Network field, select an existing network where the subnet will be created, or New network. For a private subnet with a public IP address, a router router-<network_name> will be created automatically, where <network_name> is the network name.

    4.7. If you selected New network, enter the network name.

  5. To add a server to a new network and private subnet:

    5.1. Expand the block with private subnet settings.

    5.2. Optional: change the subnet CIDR.

    5.3. Optional: turn on the DHCP toggle.

    5.4. Optional: in the Gateway field, change the default gateway IP address.

    5.5. In the Network field, select New network to create a new network and private subnet.

    5.6 Enter the network name. For a private subnet with a public IP address, a router router-<network_name> will be created automatically, where <network_name> is the network name.

Security

Select security groups to filter traffic on server ports. Without security groups, traffic will be denied. 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 an SSH key for the project on the server for secure connection:

    1.1. If an SSH key for the project 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 an SSH key for the project 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 located.

  2. Optional: in the Password for “root” field:

    2.1. Copy the password for the root user — the user with unrestricted privileges for all system actions.

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

Additional settings

  1. If you are planning 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 the placement policy on different hosts:

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

    1.4. Once 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. OS 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 be executed using the cloud-init agent on the first boot 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.

Create an administrator account

To work in the Open WebUI web interface, first create an administrator account.

  1. Open the http://<ip_address> page in your browser.

    Specify <ip_address> — the public IP address of the cloud server. You can copy it in the control panel: from the top menu, click Products → Cloud Servers → server page → Ports tab → in the port card, click next to the public IP address.

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

  3. Enter a username.

  4. Enter your email address.

  5. Enter your password.

  6. Click Create Administrator Account.

Launch Open WebUI

  1. Open the http://<ip_address> page in your browser.

    Specify <ip_address> — the public IP address of the cloud server. You can copy it in the control panel: from the top menu, click Products → Cloud Servers → server page → Ports tab → in the port card, click next to the public IP address.

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

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

  4. Click Sign in.