Install OL Connect Automate

The Windows installer is the recommended way to install and configure Automate. You can also install without the Windows installer. For manual updating, see Update Node-RED and Node.js If you need support, see Documentation, Training, and Support.

Use the Windows installer

1. Download and extract the installation file

The installer for Automate can be downloaded from Upland Objectif Lune's Resource Center (https://olresourcecenter.uplandsoftware.com/downloads/), under Downloads, or the Web Activation Manager.

The OL Connect Automate installer is supplied as an executable.

Download and extract the file, and double-click on it. After a short pause, the Setup Wizard appears as a guide through the installation steps.

The Welcome page of the wizard shows the Node.js, Node-RED and OL nodes versions that will be installed.

2. Create an installation log file (optional)

The installer can create an MSI log file, if needed. To make it do this, run the installation file from the command line with the following command line option:

Copy 
"OL_ConnectAutomate_VERSION.exe" /l=<logFileName.log>

3. Accept Module licenses

The next page displays the distribution licenses for all modules included in the package. These must be accepted to continue. See Legal Notices and Acknowledgments for more information.

4. Select the destination folders

After clicking Next, the destination folder selection page appears. Select custom locations, or accept the default folders by clicking Next.

  • Software components: This is the folder where Node.js and Node-RED will be installed. The default installation path is: C:\Program Files\Objectif Lune\OL Connect Automate
    Modules will be installed in subfolders of this folder.

  • User Data: The path specified as the location of data.
    The default is: C:\ProgramData\Objectif Lune\OL Connect Automate

Note: The installer doesn't change the default settings.js file of Node-RED. The choices made in the install wizard will be written to files in the User Data folder with file names that start with the olca. prefix.
The installer options will be added to the olca.settings.json file, and the environment variables added to the olca.environments.json file

If you make changes to the default settings.js file, these will override any settings done through the installer.

5. Configure Node-RED: communication settings

After clicking Next, the first Node-RED setup page appears.

  • Port: Enter the port to use to communicate with the Node-RED server. By default, the Node-RED server service communicates through port 1880.

  • Check Enable HTTPS communication to configure Node-RED to use secured communication.

    Then select your private key file and the certificate file (the public key certificate identifying the certified server).

    Files inputted must be in the PEM format (ASCII base64 encoded).

    For more information on certificates, including how to convert a file to PEM format (ASCII base64 encoded), see Obtain a certificate.

    The files are stored in the C:\ProgramData\Objectif Lune\OL Connect Automate\certs subfolder.

6. Configure Node-RED: projects and authentication

After clicking Next, the second Node-RED setup page appears.

  • Enable the Projects feature: Check this option to enable the Projects feature. Projects represent everything that is needed to create a redistributable Node-RED application and they are backed by a Git repository.
    For general information about this feature, see https://nodered.org/docs/user-guide/projects/. For information about using Projects to manage OL Connect resources, see the tutorial Use Projects.
    A Git installation is required for this option, but not included in the installer.
  • Enable authentication for the Editor and Admin API: Check this option to set up Node-RED to require authentication to access the editor. If selected, the following edit boxes activate:
    • Username: Enter the user account for connecting to the Node-RED server.
    • Password: Enter the password for the selected user account.

Note: See Protect Node-RED for more information about authentication.

7. Configure Node-RED: startup

  • Start Node-RED at system startup: If the Node-RED service must be started at system startup, it can log on using either a virtual service account or an existing user account.
    • Create virtual service account (default): This option sets the Node-RED service to use the virtual service account named NT Service\OLConnect_Automate.

    • If the Node-RED service should run using an existing user account, enter the User Account and Password of that account.

      • The user account can be a User Principal Name (i.e., MyName@my.organisation.com) or a Down-Level Logon Name (ie: MyDomain\MyName).

      • If the domain is not present in the username, then the installer will automatically add the .\ prefix to it, which sets the domain to 'this computer'.

      Note: For enhanced security, it is recommended that the user account be a non-admin account. This allows the system administrator to better control the application's access rights.

      The LocalSystem account should not be used, as it has too many access rights.

      The selected user must not be listed in the Deny logon as a service group.

      Ideally, the selected user account has the same access rights as users who will eventually be editing the Flow configuration.

8. Configure Node-RED: Environmental Variables

Define variables that will be accessible in Node-RED flows in the same way as the Operating System environment variables and any Global environment variables (which can be defined inside the settings of a Node-RED flow) are.

The default environment variable is named 'ENV_WORKSPACE', and it is set to a suggested path for a folder on the local hard drive.

You can add or remove environment variables as desired.

Note: There is no need to escape characters in the variable's value. For example, the default ENV_WORKSPACE variable uses the classic Windows path format.

For more about environmental variables, see Use environment variables in flows.

9. Test connection to OL Connect server

The page that appears after clicking Next allows to enter OL Connect Server connection settings, including credentials. With this information, the wizard can automatically Create an OL Connect Server Configuration node for Node-RED.

  • OL Connect Server URL: Enter the URL and port number to use to communicate to the Connect server. For example: 127.0.0.1:9340.

  • Username: Enter the user account for connecting to the OL Connect server.

  • Password: Enter the password for the selected user account.

  • Ignore certificate errors: Select this option if you want certificate errors on HTTPS connections to be ignored.

Click Test Connection to confirm the connection is working.

When Node-RED is launched at the end of the installation, an OL Connect Configuration node will be created using either the connection settings that you entered or the default values if nothing was changed. The connection settings can be changed later from Node-RED.

10. Ready to Install

A general screen that lets you know the installation will begin, if you are happy with the selected settings.

Click Next to start the installation itself. This process can take several minutes.

11. Completing the installation

This screen informs you that the installation has completed.

Select the Launch the Node-RED editor check box to open the Node-RED Editor in the system's default browser. Otherwise the Node-RED editor can be opened later by navigating to the URL http://127.0.0.1:1880 or http://localhost:1880.

Click Finish to finalize the installation.

Install without Windows installer

If you are not using the Windows installer:

  1. Follow the instructions on Downloading and installing Node.js and npm | npm Docs (npmjs.com). Install Node-RED using this npm command:

    Copy 
    npm install -g --unsafe-perm node-red

  2. Start the Node-RED editor.

  3. Download and install the OL Connect nodes and other Automate nodes that you wish to use.

    • You can do this using the Palette Manager: in the right-hand sidebar, click Manage Palette and look for @objectif-lune.

      • Tip: You can also use the Palette Manager to update nodes.

    • Or, run a command in your Node-RED user directory - typically ~/.node-red. For example, to install the OL Connect package:

      Copy 
      npm install @objectif-lune/node-red-contrib-connect

    You can also view available nodes on the Node-RED website: https://flows.nodered.org/search?term=objectif-lune.

  4. Configure the installation as per the information above.