Can I host Node Red Dashboard as a Website Remotely

PAC Project
1

Hi,

Question, how can i access my Node Red Dashboard Remotely from any network without using VPN, etc?

thanks

2

The biggest question here is, what are you hosting Node Red on? Is it on a RIO/Epic, or is it an instance on a computer? Either way, you have a few options…

  1. Use a port forward to hit it. You’ll need to have a static WAN (or use a dynamic updater), but that’s far less secure than a VPN approach. I personally wouldn’t do it.

  2. If your Node-Red instance is hosted on a computer (Raspberry Pi, Windows, Android box, etc.), you would also have the option of using an RDP client to access the dashboard. Though, it’s just viewing a remote desktop, not connecting direct to the dashboard

  3. Host a cloud instance of Node-Red (there are services specifically for this, or you could spin up an AWS or Google Cloud server to host an instance), and then pass your data up to the cloud via MQTT.

I’ve used all 3 of the above methods, as well as VPN, and typically either go with my last suggestion or a VPN as they are the most secure and efficient.

1 Like
3

Thanks!

Im using it directly from a Groov Rio. The port forward wouldn’t be an option, ill try the google cloud or AWS option. thanks!

4

Yes, then you can take advantage of the built-in MQTT client on the RIO to pass data, or setup a flow that runs locally on it to do so. You’ll need to either use an online MQTT broker (like HiveMQ) or you could spin up a broker on a Google Cloud or AWS server instance where you’ll be hosting the remote Node-Red from. From there its just a matter of passing tags back and forth and you’ll be off!

I’m more experienced in AWS, but I’m sure Google Cloud is similar where you can have a static IP assigned to your server. In our case, we have a subdomain on our webhost that points to our AWS static IP (with firewall engaged to only allow traffic in from our webhost server)… makes it easy to remember the remote node-red IP instead of a string of numbers. Remember when you do install Node-Red on your cloud instance to make it run as a service (always on)!

5

I’m wondering about the wisdom of putting Node-RED on the Internet.
There is a whole section on the Node-RED forums about doing that:

There is also a section in their docs which should also be read and actioned:
https://nodered.org/docs/user-guide/runtime/securing-node-red

In short, at the very least, you will need (MUST) to setup user/pass for both the editor and dashboard.

Keep in mind that Opto has already done a lot of that for you on the EPIC/RIO Firmware when it runs Node-RED, but that said, we don’t recommend putting Node-RED on the Internet with a port forward.

But, all that aside, the question I am really interested in the number of users you intend having interact with the Node-RED dashboard?

6

Thanks Beno,

On the users, mainly me for traveling and perhaps a user or two. Ill review the information you sent over and shoot questions if any popup.

once again, thanks, you guys are awesome