Chroma on Ubuntu 24.04 on Azure User Guide

Overview

Chroma is the open-source embeddings and vector database used to give AI applications long-term memory and to power retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). It stores documents, their embeddings and metadata, and serves fast similarity search over an OpenAI-style API. The cloudimg image installs Chroma 1.5 in a Python virtual environment at /opt/chroma, fronts it with an nginx reverse proxy on TCP 80, persists all data on a dedicated Azure data disk, and generates a unique password on the first boot of every VM. Backed by 24/7 cloudimg support.

What is included:

• Chroma 1.5 server in a Python venv at /opt/chroma
• nginx reverse proxy on :80 in front of the Chroma server (bound to loopback :8000)
• A dedicated Azure data disk at /var/lib/chroma holding persisted collections, embeddings and indexes — separate from the OS disk and re-provisioned with every VM
• Per-VM password (CHROMA_PASSWORD) generated at first boot, in a root-only file
• chroma.service + nginx.service as systemd units, enabled and active
• 24/7 cloudimg support

Prerequisites

An active Azure subscription, an SSH key pair, and a VNet + subnet in the target region. Standard_B2s (2 vCPU / 4 GiB RAM) is a good starting point; scale up for larger collections or higher query volume. NSG inbound: allow 22/tcp from your management network and 80/tcp from the clients that query Chroma (front port 80 with TLS for public exposure — see Enabling HTTPS).

Step 1 — Deploy from the Azure Marketplace

Sign in to the Azure Portal, choose Create a resource, search the Marketplace for Chroma by cloudimg, and select Create. On Basics pick your subscription, resource group, region and size; under Administrator account choose SSH public key and paste your key; under Inbound port rules allow SSH (22) and HTTP (80). Review the dedicated data disk on the Disks tab, then Review + create → Create.

Step 2 — Deploy from the Azure CLI

az vm create \
  --resource-group <your-rg> \
  --name chroma \
  --image <marketplace-image-urn> \
  --size Standard_B2s \
  --admin-username azureuser \
  --ssh-key-values ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub \
  --vnet-name <your-vnet> --subnet <your-subnet> \
  --public-ip-sku Standard

az vm open-port --resource-group <your-rg> --name chroma --port 80 --priority 1010

Step 3 — Connect to your VM

ssh azureuser@<vm-public-ip>

Step 4 — Confirm the services are running

systemctl is-active chroma.service nginx.service
curl -s http://127.0.0.1/api/v2/heartbeat

Both services report active and the heartbeat endpoint returns a nanosecond timestamp.

Step 5 — Retrieve your password

The password is generated uniquely on the first boot of your VM and written to a root-only file:

sudo cat /root/chroma-credentials.txt

The CHROMA_PASSWORD value is the password; clients authenticate as admin with it.

Step 6 — Connect with the Chroma client

Install the client and connect over HTTP with your password. Replace <vm-public-ip> and <password>:

pip install chromadb

python3 - <<'PY'
import chromadb
from chromadb.config import Settings
client = chromadb.HttpClient(
    host="<vm-public-ip>", port=80,
    settings=Settings(
        chroma_client_auth_provider="chromadb.auth.basic_authn.BasicAuthClientProvider",
        chroma_client_auth_credentials="admin:<password>",
    ),
)
col = client.get_or_create_collection("docs")
col.add(documents=["hello world", "vector databases are great"], ids=["a", "b"])
print(col.query(query_texts=["greeting"], n_results=1))
PY

Collections you create persist on the dedicated data disk at /var/lib/chroma.

Step 7 — Confirm the runtime

/opt/chroma/venv/bin/pip show chromadb | grep ^Version

Enabling HTTPS

For production, terminate TLS at nginx with a real domain pointed at the VM's public IP. Install certbot and request a certificate (replace the domain):

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d your-domain.example.com

Backup and maintenance

All Chroma data — collections, embeddings and indexes — lives on the dedicated data disk at /var/lib/chroma. Snapshot that disk in Azure to back up your vector store, and keep the OS patched with sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade. The server restarts cleanly with sudo systemctl restart chroma.

Support

This image is backed by 24/7 cloudimg support. Contact us by email and chat for help with client integration, collections and indexing, scaling, TLS and backups.

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