Difference between revisions of "Automation - Node-Red"

Latest revision as of 15:39, 7 March 2023

Proven on:
	11 (bullseye)
	4
	19.3 / 20.3
	20.04.3	issues
	5.11

Node-Red Web Site

As always...

Start with:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Installing Node-Red

Start by installing nodejs and the javascript package manager (npm)

FFFfffuuuuuu...

nodejs & npm versions are problematic.

For some reason, the versions available in all of the repositories tend to be out of date AND all attempts to update them fail in weird & wonderful ways.

I have found a procedure that seems to work

Use npm to install Node-RED

sudo npm install -g node-red

Latest WTF?

Run it...

node-red

Adding Autostart capability using SystemD

Then download three required files to their correct locations

sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/node-red/raspbian-deb-package/master/resources/nodered.service -O /lib/systemd/system/nodered.service
sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/node-red/raspbian-deb-package/master/resources/node-red-start -O /usr/bin/node-red-start
sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/node-red/raspbian-deb-package/master/resources/node-red-stop -O /usr/bin/node-red-stop

Note: These 3 files are kinda rpi specific...

To run as a user other than Pi, you need to edit the nodered.service file. To edit this use sudo to edit the file /lib/systemd/system/nodered.service and change the lines 11, 12 and 13.

sudo vi /lib/systemd/system/nodered.service

Replace the user name "pi" with a user on your actual system...

Another Note: If you find that you've outgrown Node-Reds available environment space...

i.e.: it starts crashing with a message like: FATAL ERROR: Ineffective mark-compacts near heap limit Allocation failed - JavaScript heap out of memory in the logs...

You can try editing line 16 of /lib/systemd/system/nodered.service and change the number 256 to something larger. (within as-yet undetermined limits...)

make the two scripts executable

sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/node-red-st*

reload the systemd daemon

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

enable Node-RED to run automatically

sudo systemctl enable nodered.service

Start Node-RED

sudo systemctl start nodered.service

Securing Node-RED

Username/password based authentication
- The suggestedadminAuth section is already there... edit it
- You can create multiple users by duplicating the user object inside users: []
Command-line Administration(how to get node-red-admin)

Useful management stuff

Learn about the current service status

sudo systemctl status nodered.service

(Re-)Start the Node-RED background service

sudo systemctl restart nodered.service

Stop the Node-RED background service

sudo systemctl stop nodered.service

Disable the Node-RED background service

sudo systemctl disable nodered.service

Get the service log since the last boot

sudo journalctl -f -u nodered.service -b -o cat

Also

Node-RED can then be started and stopped by using the commands:

node-red-start

and

node-red-stop

Updating

Apparently, just run the install again...

sudo npm install -g node-red

(pretty simple...)

Debugging Node-Red issues

ECONNRESET caused by MQTT

Error: Client network socket disconnected before secure TLS connection was established Error: read ECONNRESET Error: read ECONNRESET Error: Client network socket disconnected before secure TLS connection was established

Hhhmmm...

ECONNREFUSED caused by alexa-home-conf

[error] [alexa-home-conf:919d2660.bd9218] Error: connect ECONNREFUSED 34.240.81.189:8883

Strange response from the creator: https://github.com/hardillb/node-red-contrib-alexa-home-skill/issues/51

Doesn't actually explain what's going on, but it's allegedly harmless. My question is: Why in fuck does it want to connect to a non-functional "alternate endpoint"?

Graceful restarts (maybe)

This is likely not needed when running under systemd...

From the Node-Red website

You can start a script as a daemon. But first install forever

sudo npm install -g --unsafe-perm forever

Then issue command:

forever start /usr/local/lib/node_modules/node-red/red.js

Things to do with Node-RED once it's installed

WIP: These pages will appear as I get things updated from what's on the older wiki...

Some useful Node-Red tips

Enable / Disable a Flow
Search: node red function multiple inputs
Node-Red stores it's data in ~/.node-red
Palette Export or Backup

Some interesting Node-Red Add-Ons

Machine learning package for node-red
node-red-contrib-boolean-logic
- Create "Buffer" from "Invert"
node-red-contrib-google-home-notify
node-red-dashboard
node-red-node-ping
- There seem to be other versions... possibly better...
node-red-contrib-plex

Moving Node-Red to a new server

When creating a NEW server

NOTE: If you are updating to a much newer version of Node-Red, this is not likely the best technique...

Pretty easy actually...

Build the server & install everything as normal.

Then stop the node-red service and replace ~/.npm & ~/node-red with copies from the old server.

When Renaming a server

No longer seems to be an issue with current version of Node-Red...

(i.e.: Moving or cloning a VM...)

Seems to lose the flows. :(

They're not actually lost. :)

The flow files are named with the server name.

You can select a flow file in ~/.node-red/settings.js

Uncomment the line that says: //flowfile: 'flows.json', and change flows.json to the name of your actual flow file. (in the same folder...)

Then restart node-red

sudo systemctl restart nodered.service

If you are using other services on the server (i.e.: MQTT), you may run into further weirdness like having to tell nodes where to find these services. More research still required on this...

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{{!}} class="wikitable" style="float: right; width: 322px;" border="2"
 {{!}}+ Proven on:
-{{!}}-
+{{!}}- --="" debian=""
-{{!}} style="text-align: center; width: 67.5125px;" {{!}} [[File:Logo Mint.png{{!}}60px{{!}}link=https://linuxmint.com{{!}}center{{!}}middle{{!}}frameless]]
+{{!}} style="text-align: center; width: 60px;" {{!}} [[File:Logo Debian.png{{!}}60px{{!}}link=https://www.debian.org/{{!}}center{{!}}middle{{!}}frameless]]
+{{!}} style="text-align: center; width: 40px;" {{!}} 11 (bullseye)
+{{!}}
+<br>
+{{!}}- --="" lmde=""
 {{!}} style="text-align: center; width: 65.675px;" {{!}} [[File:Logo LMDE.png{{!}}60px{{!}}link=https://linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=279{{!}}center{{!}}middle{{!}}frameless]]
-{{!}} style="text-align: center; width: 72.1125px;" {{!}} [[File:Logo Debian.png{{!}}60px{{!}}link=https://www.debian.org/{{!}}center{{!}}middle{{!}}frameless]]
+{{!}} 4
-{{!}} style="text-align: center; width: 65.7px;" {{!}} [[File:Logo Ubuntu.png{{!}}60px{{!}}link=https://ubuntu.com/{{!}}center{{!}}middle{{!}}frameless]]
+{{!}}
-{{!}} style="text-align: center; width: 65.7px;" {{!}} [[File:Logo Sparky.png{{!}}60px{{!}}link=https://sparkylinux.org/{{!}}center{{!}}middle{{!}}frameless]]
-{{!}}-
-{{!}} style="width: 67.5125px;" {{!}} 19.3 / 20.3
-{{!}} style="width: 65.675px;" {{!}} 4
-{{!}} style="width: 72.1125px;" {{!}} 11 (bullseye)
-{{!}} style="width: 65.7px;" {{!}} 20.04.3
-{{!}} style="width: 65.7px;" {{!}} 5.11
-{{!}}-
-{{!}} style="width: 67.5125px;" {{!}}
 <br>
-{{!}} style="width: 65.675px;" {{!}}
+{{!}}- --="" linux="" mint=""
+{{!}} style="text-align: center; width: 67.5125px;" {{!}} [[File:Logo Mint.png{{!}}60px{{!}}link=https://linuxmint.com{{!}}center{{!}}middle{{!}}frameless]]
+{{!}} 19.3 / 20.3
+{{!}}
 <br>
-{{!}} style="width: 72.1125px;" {{!}}
+{{!}}- --="" ubuntu=""
+{{!}} style="text-align: center; width: 65.7px;" {{!}} [[File:Logo Ubuntu.png{{!}}60px{{!}}link=https://ubuntu.com/{{!}}center{{!}}middle{{!}}frameless]]
+{{!}} 20.04.3
+{{!}}          <span style="color:#8B0082">issues</span>
 <br>
-{{!}} style="width: 65.7px;" {{!}}
+{{!}}- --="" sparky="" linux=""
-<br>
+{{!}} style="text-align: center; width: 65.7px;" {{!}} [[File:Logo Sparky.png{{!}}60px{{!}}link=https://sparkylinux.org/{{!}}center{{!}}middle{{!}}frameless]]
-{{!}} style="width: 65.7px;" {{!}}
+{{!}} 5.11
+{{!}}
 <br>
 {{!}}}
@@ Line 36: / Line 42: @@
 == Installing Node-Red ==
 === Start by installing nodejs and the javascript package manager (npm) ===
-<span style="color:#8B0082">'''NOTE:''' The Ubunto repositories serve up an outdated version of Node.js. (v10.19.0)</span>
-<span style="color:#8B0082">Node-Red 2 requires v12...</span>
+<span style="color: rgb(186, 55, 42);" >'''FFFfffuuuuuu...'''</span>
-[[Getting nodejs v12{{!}}Getting nodejs v12]]
+nodejs & npm versions are problematic.
-* <code>sudo apt install nodejs</code>
+For some reason, the versions available in all of the repositories tend to be out of date AND all attempts to update them fail in weird & wonderful ways.
-* <code>sudo apt-get install -y build-essential</code>
-* <code>sudo npm install npm@latest -g</code>
+[[Getting up-to-date NodeJS & NPM{{!}}I have found a procedure that seems to work]]
-** (Doesn't actually seem to change anything on Debian... Updates to 8.3.0 on Ubuntu.)
 === Use npm to install Node-RED ===
 * <code>sudo npm install -g node-red</code>
+[[File:Node-red install output (2022-05-14).png{{!}}300px{{!}}left{{!}}thumb{{!}}Latest WTF?]]
+<div style="clear: both"></div>
 === Run it... ===
@@ Line 61: / Line 67: @@
 * <code>sudo wget <nowiki>https://raw.githubusercontent.com/node-red/raspbian-deb-package/master/resources/node-red-start</nowiki> -O /usr/bin/node-red-start</code>
 * <code>sudo wget <nowiki>https://raw.githubusercontent.com/node-red/raspbian-deb-package/master/resources/node-red-stop</nowiki> -O /usr/bin/node-red-stop</code>
-<span style="color:#4B0082">'''Note:'''</span> These 3 files are kinda rpi specific...
+===== <span style="color:#4B0082">'''Note:'''</span> These 3 files are kinda rpi specific... =====
 <span style="color:#4B0082">To run as a user other than Pi, you need to edit the nodered.service file. To edit this use sudo to edit the file <code>/lib/systemd/system/nodered.service</code> and change the lines 11, 12 and 13.</span>
 *<code>sudo vi /lib/systemd/system/nodered.service</code>
 <span style="color:#4B0082">Replace the user name "pi" with a user on your actual system...</span>
+===== <span style="color: rgb(224, 62, 45);">'''Another Note:'''</span> If you find that you've outgrown Node-Reds available environment space... =====
+'''i.e.:''' it starts crashing with a message like: <code>'''FATAL ERROR: Ineffective mark-compacts near heap limit Allocation failed - JavaScript heap out of memory'''</code> in the logs...
+You can try editing line 16 of <code>/lib/systemd/system/nodered.service</code> and change the number 256 to something larger. (within as-yet undetermined limits...)
 ==== make the two scripts executable ====
@@ Line 180: / Line 196: @@
 == Moving Node-Red to a new server ==
 === When creating a NEW server ===
+<span style="color: rgb(186, 55, 42);" >'''NOTE''': If you are updating to a much newer version of Node-Red, this is not likely the best technique...</span>
 Pretty easy actually...
@@ Line 187: / Line 205: @@
 === When Renaming a server ===
-(i.e.: Moving or cloning a VM...)
+No longer seems to be an issue with current version of Node-Red...
+<span style="text-decoration: line-through;" >(i.e.: Moving or cloning a VM...)</span>
-Seems to lose the flows. :(
+<span style="text-decoration: line-through;" >Seems to lose the flows. :(</span>
-They're not actually lost. :)
+<span style="text-decoration: line-through;" >They're not actually lost. :)</span>
-The flow files are named with the server name.
+<span style="text-decoration: line-through;" >The flow files are named with the server name.</span>
-You can select a flow file in <code>~/.node-red/settings.js</code>
+<span style="text-decoration: line-through;" >You can select a flow file in <code>~/.node-red/settings.js</code></span>
-Uncomment the line that says: <code>//flowfile: 'flows.json',</code> and change '''flows.json''' to the name of your actual flow file. (in the same folder...)
+<span style="text-decoration: line-through;" >Uncomment the line that says: <code>//flowfile: 'flows.json',</code> and change '''flows.json''' to the name of your actual flow file. (in the same folder...)</span>
-Then restart node-red
+<span style="text-decoration: line-through;" >Then restart node-red</span>
-<code>sudo systemctl restart nodered.service</code>
+<span style="text-decoration: line-through;" >
+<code>sudo systemctl restart nodered.service</code></span>
 If you are using other services on the server (i.e.: MQTT), you may run into further weirdness like having to tell nodes where to find these services. More research still required on this...

Difference between revisions of "Automation - Node-Red"

Latest revision as of 15:39, 7 March 2023

Contents

Installing Node-Red

Start by installing nodejs and the javascript package manager (npm)

Use npm to install Node-RED

Run it...

Adding Autostart capability using SystemD

Then download three required files to their correct locations

Note: These 3 files are kinda rpi specific...

Another Note: If you find that you've outgrown Node-Reds available environment space...

make the two scripts executable

reload the systemd daemon

enable Node-RED to run automatically

Start Node-RED

Securing Node-RED

Useful management stuff

Learn about the current service status

(Re-)Start the Node-RED background service

Stop the Node-RED background service

Disable the Node-RED background service

Get the service log since the last boot

Also

Updating

Debugging Node-Red issues

ECONNRESET caused by MQTT

ECONNREFUSED caused by alexa-home-conf

Graceful restarts (maybe)

Things to do with Node-RED once it's installed

Some useful Node-Red tips

Some interesting Node-Red Add-Ons

Moving Node-Red to a new server

When creating a NEW server

When Renaming a server

Navigation menu

Difference between revisions of "Automation - Node-Red"

Latest revision as of 15:39, 7 March 2023

Installing Node-Red

Start by installing nodejs and the javascript package manager (npm)

Use npm to install Node-RED

Run it...

Adding Autostart capability using SystemD

Then download three required files to their correct locations

Note: These 3 files are kinda rpi specific...

Another Note: If you find that you've outgrown Node-Reds available environment space...

make the two scripts executable

reload the systemd daemon

enable Node-RED to run automatically

Start Node-RED

Securing Node-RED

Useful management stuff

Learn about the current service status

(Re-)Start the Node-RED background service

Stop the Node-RED background service

Disable the Node-RED background service

Get the service log since the last boot

Also

Updating

Debugging Node-Red issues

ECONNRESET caused by MQTT

ECONNREFUSED caused by alexa-home-conf

Graceful restarts (maybe)

Things to do with Node-RED once it's installed

Some useful Node-Red tips

Some interesting Node-Red Add-Ons

Moving Node-Red to a new server

When creating a NEW server

When Renaming a server

Navigation menu

Search