Accessing Node-RED

Open your browser and visit: https://<SERVER_IP>
A browser SSL warning is expected (self-signed certificate)
Authentication is required (Basic Auth popup)
Authentication method: HTTP Basic Auth
Credentials are stored securely in: /root/.cloudzy-creds

Important Files & Directories

Main installation directory is /root/node-red.
Docker orchestration file is /root/node-red/docker-compose.yml.
Persistent Node-RED data is stored in /var/lib/docker/volumes/node-red_node-red-data/_data.
Nginx configuration file is located at /etc/nginx/sites-available/node-red.
Basic authentication credentials are stored in /etc/nginx/auth/node-red.htpasswd.
TLS certificates are stored in /etc/nginx/ssl.

Service Management

Check container status:

docker ps

View logs:

docker compose -f /root/node-red/docker-compose.yml logs -f

Restart Node-RED:

docker compose -f /root/node-red/docker-compose.yml restart

Restart Nginx:

systemctl restart nginx

Node-RED Admin User (Alternative to Basic Auth)

Node-RED has its own internal authentication system, which can replace HTTP Basic Auth.

1. Locate `settings.js`

The main configuration file is inside the Node-RED Docker volume: /var/lib/docker/volumes/node-red_node-red-data/_data/settings.js

2. Enable `adminAuth`

Open settings.js and uncomment (or add) the adminAuth section. It should look something like this:

  adminAuth: {
      type: "credentials",
      users: [
          {
              username: "admin",
              password: "<HASHED_PASSWORD>",
              permissions: "*"
      }]
  },

3. Generate a password hash

You can generate the hash from inside the Node-RED container:

docker exec -it node-red-node-red-1 node-red admin hash-pw

You will be prompted to enter your plain password.

Copy the resulting hash and paste it as the password value in settings.js.

4. Restart Node-RED

After editing settings.js:

docker compose -f /root/node-red/docker-compose.yml restart

5. Disable HTTP Basic Auth in Nginx (Optional)

Edit the Nginx site file: /etc/nginx/sites-available/node-red

Remove or comment out these lines:

auth_basic "Restricted";
auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/auth/node-red.htpasswd;

Reload Nginx:

systemctl restart nginx

Enabling SSL with a Domain

1. Point your domain to the server IP.

2. Edit Nginx config and replace both server_name <IP>; with your domain (<your-domain>) for both HTTP (port 80) and HTTPS (port 443) blocks:

vim /etc/nginx/sites-available/node-red

3. Install Certbot:

apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx

4. Run the following command to generate a valid Let’s Encrypt certificate:

certbot certonly --nginx --non-interactive --agree-tos --email [email protected] -d yourdomain.com

5. Replace SSL paths in Nginx config:

vim /etc/apache2/sites-available/node-red
# Before:
    # ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/fullchain.pem;
    # ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/privkey.pem;
# After:
    # ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem;
    # ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/privkey.pem;

6. Restart Nginx to apply the changes:

systemctl restart nginx

7. Open your browser and visit: https://yourdomain.com

Node-RED