What is Node Red? –Node red is a Open Source flow based tool and IOT platform and Dashboard developed by IBM and written in Node.js.
Node-red lets you easily build applications by joining together black box functions (nodes) using a web interface, and it requires very little, if any, programming knowledge.
Because of its flexibility and ease of use node-red is ideally suited for building IOT and Home control dashboards and automations as well as many other applications.
Node-red can be installed locally on Windows and Linux and also because of its small size also on the raspberry Pi.
It is also available as a cloud server from IBM and others like FRED
Node-Red Overview
Here is a the official introductory video from the node-red team which give you a good overview of what node-red is.
Node-Red Tutorials – Quick Links
- Getting started
- Node-Red Admin
- Node-Red programming
- Node-Red Dashboards
- Node-Red Data storage
- Node-Red IOT and Home Automation
- Videos
Getting Started
Before you can use node-red locally you will need to install it and start it running.
This tutorial Installing and Starting Node-Red explains how to do that.
The next step is to become familiar with the admin interface and learn how to create and manage flows.
Node-red works by passing messages between nodes and this is critical to understand before you start wiring nodes together and is explained in Understanding The Node-Red Message Object
Node-Red Install and Setup Quiz
This quiz is for beginners to node-red and test basic knowledge
node-red setup
Time limit: 0
Quiz-summary
0 of 10 questions completed
Questions:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
Information
Test your knowledge of Basic Node-red setup
You have already completed the quiz before. Hence you can not start it again.
Quiz is loading...
You must sign in or sign up to start the quiz.
You have to finish following quiz, to start this quiz:
Results
0 of 10 questions answered correctly
Your time:
Time has elapsed
You have reached 0 of 0 points, (0)
Categories
-
Not categorized
0%
-
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
-
Answered
-
Review
-
Question 1 of 10
1. Question
Node-Red Runs is a XXXXX Application ?
-
-
-
-
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 2 of 10
2. Question
The default port for administering node-red is?
-
-
-
-
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 3 of 10
3. Question
The default settings file is called?
-
-
-
-
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 4 of 10
4. Question
You start node-red from the command line but it fails to start with the Error Message
Error:Port in Use
What is the most likely cause?
-
-
-
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 5 of 10
5. Question
Which of the following statements are true?
-
-
-
-
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 6 of 10
6. Question
What does the following command do?
node-red -s mysettings.js -p 1889
-
-
-
-
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 7 of 10
7. Question
You are using Node-red on a machine called raspberrypi. What is the name of the flow file created by default.
-
-
-
-
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 8 of 10
8. Question
Besides the flow file node node also creates additional files in the .node-red folder. On a server called raspberrypi you would expect to see th following files:
- flows_raspberrypi.json
- flows_raspberrypi.json.backup
- flows_raspberrypi_cred.json.
-
-
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 9 of 10
9. Question
To create passwords for the admin interface you need to install the command line admin tools?
True or False?
-
-
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 10 of 10
10. Question
The dashboard nodes are part of the core nodes and installed by default?
True or False?
-
-
Correct
Incorrect
node-red setup
Quiz-summary
0 of 10 questions completed
Questions:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
Information
Test your knowledge of Basic Node-red setup
You have already completed the quiz before. Hence you can not start it again.
Quiz is loading...
You must sign in or sign up to start the quiz.
You have to finish following quiz, to start this quiz:
Results
0 of 10 questions answered correctly
Your time:
Time has elapsed
You have reached 0 of 0 points, (0)
Categories
- Not categorized 0%
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- Answered
- Review
-
Question 1 of 10
1. Question
Node-Red Runs is a XXXXX Application ?
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 2 of 10
2. Question
The default port for administering node-red is?
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 3 of 10
3. Question
The default settings file is called?
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 4 of 10
4. Question
You start node-red from the command line but it fails to start with the Error Message
Error:Port in Use
What is the most likely cause?
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 5 of 10
5. Question
Which of the following statements are true?
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 6 of 10
6. Question
What does the following command do?
node-red -s mysettings.js -p 1889
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 7 of 10
7. Question
You are using Node-red on a machine called raspberrypi. What is the name of the flow file created by default.
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 8 of 10
8. Question
Besides the flow file node node also creates additional files in the .node-red folder. On a server called raspberrypi you would expect to see th following files:
- flows_raspberrypi.json
- flows_raspberrypi.json.backup
- flows_raspberrypi_cred.json.
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 9 of 10
9. Question
To create passwords for the admin interface you need to install the command line admin tools?
True or False?
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 10 of 10
10. Question
The dashboard nodes are part of the core nodes and installed by default?
True or False?
Correct
Incorrect
Node-Red Administration
Like all applications there is a certain amount of administration and configuration that needs to be done. These tutorials cover the main administration aspects.
Tutorials
- How to Export and Import Flows-Node-Red
- Node-Red Settings.js File – Node-Red Admin
- Using The Node-Red Library
- Deploying Node-Red Flows
- Local Installs and Managing Node-Red Projects
- Securing Node-Red with SSL and User name Authentication
Node-Red Nodes and Programming
Tutorials
- Understanding The Node-Red Message Object
- Using the Node-Red Function Node- Beginners Guide
- Storing Data in Node-Red Variables
- Initialising Node-Red Flows
- Using The Node-Red Library
- Working with JSON Data And JavaScript Objects in Node-Red
- Using the Node Red Status Node
- Understanding and Using Buffers In Node-Red
- Using the Node-Red Template Node
- Message Object Cloning
Node-Red Dashboards
You can create node-red dashboards for IOT and Home automation and for a myriad of other applications.
However the nodes that allow you to do this aren’t part of the core nodes and need to be installed.
Tutorials
- Create a node-red Dashboard
- Using the UI Dashboard Template Node (Widget)
- Using the Node-Red Template Node
Node-Red IOT and Home Automation
Industrial IOT and home automation applications will generally use one or more of the following protocols.
- MQTT
- HTTP
Nodes for these protocols are part of the core nodes.You can find out how to use these nodes in the following tutorials:
Tutorials
- Node-Red HTTP Request Node for Beginners
- Node-Red Web Server -HTTP-IN and HTTP Response Nodes
- Configuring the MQTT Publish and Subscribe Nodes in Node-Red
- How to Install and Run The Mosca MQTT Broker on Node-Red
However Industrial IOT projects also use modbus and there are modbus nodes available that you will need to be installed.
Tutorials
- How to Use Node-Red with Modbus
- Writing Modbus Data with node-red
- Modbus Node-Red Dashboards and MQTT Modbus Bridge
- My Modbus Working Notes
Node-Red Data Storage
Tutorials
Storing IOT data in a SQLite Database
Videos
Useful Tools
Summary Of Terms
Note: These are the terms and meanings used in tutorials and videos.
Workspace – Contains all of your flows
Flow – A collection of nodes and wires
Flow Canvas – The Flow Edit screen
Node – A packaged JavaScript function with data.
Wire – A connection between nodes.
Resources