node-red Installation Guide Installation Guide

node-red is a free and open-source flow-based programming. Node-RED provides flow-based development for IoT

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 1 core minimum

RAM: 512MB minimum

Storage: 1GB for flows

Network: HTTP/MQTT

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port 1880 (default node-red port)

None

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install node-red
sudo dnf install -y node_red

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now node-red

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=1880/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
node-red --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install node-red
sudo apt install -y node_red

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now node-red

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 1880

# Verify installation
node-red --version

bash

# Install node-red
sudo pacman -S node_red

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now node-red

# Verify installation
node-red --version

bash

# Install node-red
apk add --no-cache node_red

# Enable and start service
rc-update add node-red default
rc-service node-red start

# Verify installation
node-red --version

bash

# Install node-red
sudo zypper install -y node_red

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now node-red

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=1880/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
node-red --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install node_red

# Start service
brew services start node_red

# Verify installation
node-red --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install node_red

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'node-red_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service node-red start

# Verify installation
node-red --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install node_red

# Or using Scoop
scoop install node_red

# Verify installation
node-red --version

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/node_red

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
node-red --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable node-red

# Start service
sudo systemctl start node-red

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop node-red

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart node-red

# Check status
sudo systemctl status node-red

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u node-red -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add node-red default

# Start service
rc-service node-red start

# Stop service
rc-service node-red stop

# Restart service
rc-service node-red restart

# Check status
rc-service node-red status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'node-red_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service node-red start

# Stop service
service node-red stop

# Restart service
service node-red restart

# Check status
service node-red status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start node_red
brew services stop node_red
brew services restart node_red

# Check status
brew services list | grep node_red

powershell

# Start service
net start node-red

# Stop service
net stop node-red

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service node-red
Stop-Service node-red
Restart-Service node-red

# Check status
Get-Service node-red

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream node_red_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:1880;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name node_red.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name node_red.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/node_red.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/node_red.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://node_red_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName node_red.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://node_red.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName node_red.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/node_red.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/node_red.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:1880/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:1880/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend node_red_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/node_red.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend node_red_backend

backend node_red_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server node_red1 127.0.0.1:1880 check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R node_red:node_red /etc/node_red
sudo chmod 750 /etc/node_red

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=1880/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status node-red

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u node-red -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep node_red)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/node_red"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/node_red-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/node_red /var/lib/node_red

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/node_red-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop node-red

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/node_red/node_red-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start node-red

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u node-red -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/node_red/node_red.log

# Check configuration
node-red --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/node_red

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 1880

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 1880

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep node_red)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep node_red)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 1880

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  node_red:
    image: node_red:latest
    ports:
      - "1880:1880"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/node_red
      - ./data:/var/lib/node_red
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update node_red

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade node_red

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu node_red

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade node_red

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update node_red

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade node_red

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/node_red-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/node_red

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart node-red

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/node_red

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/node_red -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/node_red

Official Documentation: https://docs.node_red.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/node_red/node_red

Community Forum: https://forum.node_red.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.node_red.org/best-practices

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Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

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