Docker - Node-RED Container Setup with Authentication and Home Assistant Nodes

Here I describe my setup of the Node-RED docker container.

I run this Docker container on a Ubuntu VM that runs via [[ Proxmox VE ]]. I perform the following on the CLI.

Docker pull command:

docker pull nodered/node-red

Within my home folder I have created a Docker folder where I create a subfolder for each container:

cd ~
mkdir -p docker/nodered
cd docker/nodered

Also create a folder where the Node-RED data can be stored:

mkdir data

I use the Nano text editor to create a shell script:

sudo nano nodered_run.sh

With this shell script we are going to create the container. Copy the following into nodered_run.sh:

docker run -d \
 --hostname=nodered \
 --name=nodered \
 --net=host \
 -v $PWD/data:/data \
 -e TZ="Europe/Amsterdam" \
 -e "NODE_RED_CREDENTIAL_SECRET=KEY" \
 --restart=unless-stopped \
 --cap-add=NET_ADMIN \
 nodered/node-red

Make sure port 1880 is available. Check this with netstat.

If necessary, adjust the following:

-v $PWD/data:/data
Choose the location for the Node-RED data. In this example it is the data map we created

-e “TZ=Europe/Amsterdam”
Pick the right timezone

-e “NODE_RED_CREDENTIAL_SECRET=KEY”
(Optional) Replace KEY with your own key you can specify in settings.js. Otherwise a key will be automatically generated

Exit Nano (CTRL-X) and save the changes.

Now create the container:

sudo sh nodered_run.sh

Check if the container is running properly.

Enable Authentication (optional)

Because I use Home Assistant nodes within Node-RED but also, for example, an SSH node, I have set up authentication to make it a bit more secure.

Make sure the container is running and generate a hash for the password you want to use:

docker exec -it nodered npx node-red admin hash-pw

Enter the password you want to use for Node-RED and copy the hash to memory.

Now adjust the following in the settings.js:

docker stop nodered
cd data #nodered/data map
sudo nano settings.js

And uncomment adminAuth. Then it will look like this:

    adminAuth: {
        type: "credentials",
        users: [{
            username: "USER",
            password: "HASH",
            permissions: "*"
        }]
    },

Adjust the following:

username: USER
Choose your own username. I chose for example admin

password: “HASH”
Replace HASH with your own hash you generated earlier. Copy the hash from memory

permissions: "*"
(Optional) Change the permissions if needed

Exit Nano (CTRL-X) and save the changes. Now you can start the container again:

docker start nodered

Install Additional Nodes (optional)

The container uses the directory /data as the user configuration directory. To add additional nodes you can open shell into the container and run the appropriate npm install commands. Here are a few examples of nodes I always install:

# Open a shell in the container  
docker exec -it nodered /bin/bash
# Once inside the container, npm install the nodes in /data  
cd /
cd data
npm install node-red-node-wol
npm install node-red-contrib-bigssh
npm install node-red-contrib-home-assistant-websocket
exit

npm install node-red-node-wol
(Optional) A node to send Wake-On-LAN (WOL) magic packets

npm install node-red-contrib-bigssh
(Optional) Big SSH is an input node for node-red to execute a command over SSH to a remote host

npm install node-red-contrib-bigssh
(Optional) Various nodes to assist in setting up automation using Node-RED communicating with Docker - Home Assistant Container Setup with MariaDB and InfluxDB 2.x

Now restart the Docker container:

docker restart nodered

Using Node-RED

Node-RED can now be accessed via the following URL:

http://<IP DOCKER HOST>:1880/

See also my notes about updating containers with Portainer or via the CLI. With Synology’s Docker Application, updating a container is also very easy.

Read other notes