3 Exploring Node-RED

Node-RED is a powerful open-source tool for building Internet of Things (IoT) applications with the goal of simplifying the programming component.

Node-RED runs on the web browser and it uses visual programming that allows you to connect code blocks, known as nodes, together to perform a task. The nodes when wired together are called flows.

3.1 Install/run Node-RED using Linux VM(Raspbian OS) and RPI hardware.

I discovered that installing Node-RED on VM and RPI hardware are pretty similar so I will just do a tutorial on how I install Node-RED using Raspbian OS VM. And ่

1.) Installing and upgrading Node-RED

There is a script to install node.js, npm and Node-RED onto a Raspberry Pi. I found this on nodered.org
Running the following command will download and run the script. If you want to review the contents of the script first, you can view it on Github.

bash <(curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/node-red/linux-installers/master/deb/update-nodejs-and-nodered)

After running the script if you get download status like this, then you are good to go!

2.) Run Node-RED

After finished download, it’s time to run it. To run it all you have to do is running this command.

node-red

You will get this on your terminal. Scroll down, and you will see a link to your flow.

Copy and paste the given link in the crowser. And here is your flow.

3.) Setup Node-Red

This step is optional, in case you want to run node-red UI on another computer. You have to run noder-red admin init, all you have to do is pressing enter along the way and you have to set your username and password and continue pressing enter.

After that you have to run ‘node-red-start’ to start hosting your Node-Red flow server. You can access your flow by going to IP-ADDRESS of the hosting server port 1880. You can stop hosting your flow by running node-red-stop.