What this does

This guide configures the TCP port on which Ollama listens and enables remote API access across a LAN. By default Ollama binds to 127.0.0.1:11434. Changing this allows clients on other machines to send inference requests to the host.

Steps

Stop the running Ollama service. Configuration changes require a service restart.
```
sudo systemctl stop ollama
```
Expected output: No error output; service stops cleanly.
Set the binding address and port via environment variable. The OLLAMA_HOST variable controls the listen address. Use 0.0.0.0 to accept connections from any network interface.
```
export OLLAMA_HOST="0.0.0.0:11434"
```
Expected output: No output; the variable is set in the current shell.
Persist the environment variable across reboots. On Linux, add the export line to a system-wide profile or systemd override.
```
sudo systemctl edit ollama
```
Expected output: An editor opens. Add the lines:
```
[Service]
Environment="OLLAMA_HOST=0.0.0.0:11434"
```
Save and exit.
Restart the Ollama service to apply the change.
```
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart ollama
```
Expected output: No error output; service transitions to active state.
Verify the service is listening on the configured address.
```
curl http://0.0.0.0:11434/api/version
```
Expected output: {"version":"0.4.x"}

Verification

ss -tlnp | grep 11434
# Expected: LISTEN entries showing 0.0.0.0:11434 or :::11434

Common failures

Service refuses connections after restart — Firewall blocking the port. Run sudo ufw allow 11434/tcp on systems using UFW.
Still binding to 127.0.0.1 after restart — Environment variable not loaded correctly. Verify the systemd override with systemctl show ollama --property Environment.
Remote client times out — Host firewall or router firewall blocking the port. Check both local and network-level rules.
ss or netstat shows port not open — Ollama may not have restarted successfully. Check logs with journalctl -u ollama --no-pager -n 20.
Port 11434 already in use — Another process occupies the port. Identify the conflict with lsof -i :11434 or choose a different port by setting OLLAMA_HOST="0.0.0.0:11435".

How to configure Ollama port and networking

What this does

Steps

Verification

Common failures

Related guides