--- title: How to run local LLMs in a container with Ollama and Podman description: This tutorial walks through running Ollama inside a Podman container to host LLMs locally. It covers installing Podman, creating a persistent volume named... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-run-local-llms-in-a-container-with-ollama-and-podman-mw9pmwb6f twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: How to run local LLMs in a container with Ollama and Podman | daily.dev og:description: This tutorial walks through running Ollama inside a Podman container to host LLMs locally. It covers installing Podman, creating a persistent volume named... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-run-local-llms-in-a-container-with-ollama-and-podman-mw9pmwb6f og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/Mw9PmWb6F.png og:image:alt: How to run local LLMs in a container with Ollama and Podman og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How to run local LLMs in a container with Ollama and Podman **[All Things Open](https://daily.dev/sources/allthingsopen)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary This tutorial walks through running Ollama inside a Podman container to host LLMs locally. It covers installing Podman, creating a persistent volume named 'ollama_storage' to store model weights, and launching the Ollama container with `podman run`, mapping port 11434. A separate command adds `--device nvidia.com/gpu=all` for NVIDIA GPU support. The author then pulls and runs Llama 3 with `podman exec -it ollama ollama run llama3` and tests it with a prompt about Linux Mint. When the default port didn't work on the author's machine, they switched to port 4134 and it ran without issues. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How do I run Ollama inside a Podman container on Linux? Create a persistent volume with `podman volume create ollama_storage`, then run `podman run -d --name ollama -v ollama_storage:/root/.ollama -p 11434:11434 docker.io/ollama/ollama:latest`. The volume stores model weights so they persist when the container stops. Pull and run a model with `podman exec -it ollama ollama run llama3`. _daily.dev surfaces setup guides like this for developers containerizing their local LLM workflow._ ### How do I enable NVIDIA GPU support for Ollama running in Podman? Add `--security-opt=label=disable` and `--device nvidia.com/gpu=all` to the `podman run` command alongside the volume mount and port mapping. The full command becomes `podman run -d --name ollama --security-opt=label=disable --device nvidia.com/gpu=all -v ollama_storage:/root/.ollama -p 11434:11434 docker.io/ollama/ollama:latest`, replacing the CPU-only version. _Developers choosing between CPU and GPU setups for local LLMs can compare approaches on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [I ditched Ollama for Docker, and my local LLM setup finally stopped being a hassle](https://daily.dev/posts/i-ditched-ollama-for-docker-and-my-local-llm-setup-finally-stopped-being-a-hassle-8b7ururzn) · XDA Developers · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Everything you need to know about running LLMs locally](https://daily.dev/posts/everything-you-need-to-know-about-running-llms-locally-7u3awxooq) · All Things Open · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [How to Run and Customize LLMs Locally with Ollama](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-run-and-customize-llms-locally-with-ollama-cixkmhbqh) · freeCodeCamp · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [How to Run LLMs Locally: A Practical Guide for Developers](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-run-llms-locally-a-practical-guide-for-developers-tijurupob) · BigData Boutique blog · 2 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#containers](https://daily.dev/tags/containers), [#local-ai](https://daily.dev/tags/local-ai), [#ollama](https://daily.dev/tags/ollama) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-run-local-llms-in-a-container-with-ollama-and-podman-mw9pmwb6f) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"How to run local LLMs in a container with Ollama and Podman","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-run-local-llms-in-a-container-with-ollama-and-podman-mw9pmwb6f","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-run-local-llms-in-a-container-with-ollama-and-podman-mw9pmwb6f"},"datePublished":"2026-10-28T06:56:48.097Z","dateModified":"2026-10-28T06:57:20.335Z","description":"This tutorial walks through running Ollama inside a Podman container to host LLMs locally. 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The volume stores model weights so they persist when the container stops. Pull and run a model with `podman exec -it ollama ollama run llama3`. daily.dev surfaces setup guides like this for developers containerizing their local LLM workflow."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How do I enable NVIDIA GPU support for Ollama running in Podman?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Add `--security-opt=label=disable` and `--device nvidia.com/gpu=all` to the `podman run` command alongside the volume mount and port mapping. The full command becomes `podman run -d --name ollama --security-opt=label=disable --device nvidia.com/gpu=all -v ollama_storage:/root/.ollama -p 11434:11434 docker.io/ollama/ollama:latest`, replacing the CPU-only version. Developers choosing between CPU and GPU setups for local LLMs can compare approaches on daily.dev."}}]} ```