Node Red is an exciting platform for wiring together the Internet of Things or any web services. The installation instructions are provided here but don't forget to install Node.js and setup the startup/shutdown scripts. These steps also describe how to upload your own nodes for testing purposes.
First install Node.js. If you're not sure if it's already installed, run the command nodejs -v
.
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
Install NPM
Install the Node Package Manager
sudo apt-get install -y npm
Install Node Red
Install Node Red
sudo npm install -g --unsafe-perm node-red
Before we go further, let's make sure Node Red runs correctly by starting it manually and connecting to the web interface:
sudo service nodered start
Create a directory to hold the files associated with your nodes. My node is called apic
and the directory I created is:
/usr/local/lib/node_modules/node-red/nodes/local/apic
From here I upload my package files to this directory.
With my package files uploaded, I now need to restart node:
sudo service nodered restart
Refresh the browser and you should see your new nodes.
If you use the log calls to troubleshoot your node development, you can file the messages written to the file:
/var/log/node-red.log
Here's the full command I enter after uploading new node files to my home directory:
mv ~/apic* /usr/local/lib/node_modules/node-red/nodes/local/apic; sudo service nodered restart; tail -f /var/log/node-red.log
There are some additional nodes I like to add. You'll find a searchable list of nodes here. You must run the npm install
command from the user directory associated with your install. You can find this directory by search for this record in the /var/log/node-red.log
file:
User directory : /root/.node-red
Once you have this directory, execute the commands to install:
sudo npm install --prefix /root/.node-red node-red-node-mongodb
Now, restart the server:
sudo service nodered restart