Ollama on Mac Mini with Remote Access via SSH

This guide explains how to set up and run Ollama (a local LLM framework) on a Mac Mini, and access it from another laptop via SSH.

📌 Prerequisites

• A Mac Mini running macOS
• A laptop (Linux/macOS) to access it remotely
• SSH access to the Mac Mini

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🚀 Step 1: Install Ollama on Mac Mini

1. Open Terminal on your Mac Mini.

2. Download and install Ollama:

   curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh

3. Verify installation:

   ollama --version

4. Download LLM (mistral)

   ollama pull mistral

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🔑 Step 2: Set Up SSH Key Authentication (Optional, Recommended)

To avoid entering passwords every time you connect via SSH, set up key-based authentication.

On Your Laptop (Client)

1. Generate an SSH key (if not already created):

   ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/ssh_key_mac_mini -C "Mac Mini Access"

2. Copy the public key to your Mac Mini:

   ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/ssh_key_mac_mini.pub user@MAC_IP_ADDRESS

   (Replace user with your Mac Mini username and MAC_IP_ADDRESS with its IP.)

On Your Mac Mini

Ensure SSH key authentication is enabled:

sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Check for these lines:

PubkeyAuthentication yes
PasswordAuthentication no

Restart SSH:

sudo launchctl stop com.openssh.sshd
sudo launchctl start com.openssh.sshd

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🌐 Step 3: Start Ollama Server on Mac Mini

Run Ollama in the background:

ollama serve &

To check if it's running:

ps aux | grep ollama

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🔗 Step 4: Access Ollama Remotely via SSH

On Your Laptop

1. SSH into your Mac Mini:

   ssh -i ~/.ssh/ssh_key_mac_mini user@MAC_IP_ADDRESS

2. Send a request to Ollama (example with mistral model):

   curl http://localhost:11434/api/generate -d '{"model": "mistral", "prompt": "Hello!"}'

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🔗 Step 5: List and Remove LLM

When LLM is no longer needed

1. List LLM:

   ollama list

2. Remove LLM:

   ollama rm mistral

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🛠️ Troubleshooting

Find Mac Mini's IP Address

ipconfig getifaddr en0

Check SSH Logs (Mac Mini)

sudo log stream --process sshd

Manually Add SSH Key to Agent (Laptop)

ssh-add ~/.ssh/ssh_key_mac_mini

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🎯 Summary

• Installed Ollama on Mac Mini
• Set up SSH key authentication
• Started Ollama server and accessed it via SSH from another laptop

Now you can use your Mac Mini as a remote local LLM server! 🚀