Unit file nodered.service does not exist

General
1

I'm trying to deploy node-red automatically via ansible,

I got everything up to the point I want with installing node-red via the script provided at https://nodered.org/docs/getting-started/raspberrypi

But when I try to run the command:
sudo systemctl enable nodered.service

I get an error:
Failed to enable unit: Unit file nodered.service does not exist.

This errors on ansible side, and I have a deployed server with node-red installed, but not running.

My goal is to have node-red run after deploy and stay running (hopefully as a service as suggested by @knolleary )

Update: I'm trying to auto run this as the ubuntu user

2

Would anyone suggest I reimplement PM2 or stick with the services method?

https://nodered.org/docs/faq/starting-node-red-on-boot

3

No, stick with systemd. You have to download the service file and the other scripts, look at the Pi install script to see where they are.

4

Ok, I see I have node-red being installed via npm:
npm install -g --unsafe-perm node-red node-red-admin
One issue I had with installing node-red via ansible using the script was the prompting for Y / N, but I now see there are command line options to automate these. Will try that and see if the script can get everything I need, if so, it should be OK with the systemctl service creation.

5

I didn't mean to use the installation script, I meant to look there to see where the files you need are. This should do it

- name: Install node-red
  become: yes
  npm:
    name: node-red
    global: yes
    unsafe_perm: yes
      
- name: Download scripts
  become: yes
  get_url:
    owner: root
    mode: '755'
    url: "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/node-red/linux-installers/master/resources/{{ item }}"
    dest: "/usr/bin/{{ item|basename }}"
  with_items:
    - node-red-start
    - node-red-stop
    - node-red-restart
    - node-red-reload
    - node-red-log
    
- name: check if nodered.service exists
  stat: 
    path: /lib/systemd/system/nodered.service
  register: nodered_service
  
- name: Download nodered.service
  become: yes
  get_url:
    owner: root
    mode: '644'
    force: no
    url: "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/node-red/linux-installers/master/resources/nodered.service"
    dest: "/lib/systemd/system/nodered.service"
  when: nodered_service.stat.exists == False
  
- name: Configure user in nodered.service
  become: yes
  block:
    - name: user
      lineinfile:
        path: /lib/systemd/system/nodered.service
        regexp: 'User='
        line: "User={{ansible_env.USER}}"
    
    - name: group
      lineinfile:
        path: /lib/systemd/system/nodered.service
        regexp: 'Group='
        line: "Group={{ansible_env.USER}}"
    
    - name: home
      lineinfile:
        path: /lib/systemd/system/nodered.service
        regexp: 'WorkingDirectory='
        line: "WorkingDirectory={{ansible_env.HOME}}"
    
- name: Reload systemd
  become: yes
  systemd:
    daemon_reload: yes
1 Like
6

There is also a slightly more feature-rich version of a service file in my alt-installer.

Which may also give you some ideas about not having to do a global install from Ansible.

1 Like
7

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