Install Custom Drivers in NodeRed

NodeRed is running on Alpine Linux as non-root user. This means that you can’t install packages with apk. This tutorial shows you how to install packages with proper security measures.

Before you begin

You need to have a UMH cluster. If you do not already have a cluster, you can create one by using the Management Console.

Change the security context

1. From the StatefulSets section in UMHLens / OpenLens, click on united-manufacturing-hub-nodered to open the details page.

2. Click the Edit button to open the StatefulSet’s configuration.

   

   

3. Press Ctrl+F and search for securityContext.

4. Set the values of the runAsUser field to 0, of fsGroup to 0, and of runAsNonRoot to false.

   ...
          securityContext:
            runAsUser: 0
      restartPolicy: Always
      terminationGracePeriodSeconds: 30
      dnsPolicy: ClusterFirst
      securityContext:
        runAsUser: 0
        runAsNonRoot: false
        fsGroup: 0
   ...
   

5. Click Save.

Install the packages

1. From the Pods section in UMHLens / OpenLens, click on united-manufacturing-hub-nodered-0 to open the details page.

2. Click the Pod Shell button to open a shell in the container.

   

   

3. Install the packages with apk:

   apk add <package>
   

   For example, to install unixodbc:

   apk add unixodbc
   

   You can find the list of available packages here.

4. Exit the shell.

Revert the security context

For security reasons, you should revert the security context after you install the packages.

1. From the StatefulSets section in UMHLens / OpenLens, click on united-manufacturing-hub-nodered to open the details page.

2. Click the Edit button to open the StatefulSet’s configuration.

   

   

3. Set the values of the runAsUser field to 1000, of fsGroup to 1000, and of runAsNonRoot to true.

   ...
          securityContext:
            runAsUser: 1000
      restartPolicy: Always
      terminationGracePeriodSeconds: 30
      dnsPolicy: ClusterFirst
      securityContext:
        runAsUser: 1000
        runAsNonRoot: true
        fsGroup: 1000
   ...
   

4. Click Save.

What’s next