Node Red Plugin

Node Red Plugin

This guide provides an overview of the Zoho IoT plugin for Node-RED, designed to connect and communicate with a Zoho IoT Application. These nodes allow seamless integration by handling device communication configurations.

Node Overview

Zoho IoT PUBLISH Node
The Zoho IoT node is used to connect with the created IoT Device in the Zoho IoT Application.
 
Zoho IoT Command Node
The Command node subscribes to the device command topic on the Zoho IoT Application, allowing your Node-RED flow to receive command data from your IoT devices.
Zoho IoT Command ACK Node
The Command ACK node publish the the acknowledgement message to the IoT device for the given Command execution.

Installation 

To install the Zoho IoT plugin in Node-RED, follow these steps:
  1. Open Node-RED: Launch your Node-RED instance in a browser.
  2. Navigate to Manage Palette:
    • Click on the menu in the top-right corner of the Node-RED editor.
    • Select "Manage palette" from the dropdown. 

  1. Install the Zoho IoT Plugin:
    • Go to the "Install" tab in the Manage Palette window.
    • In the search bar, type "zoho-iot".
    • Locate "node-red-contrib-zoho-iot" in the search results.
    • Click the "Install" button next to the plugin.

4.Verify Installation: Once installed, you should see the Zoho IoT nodes in the left sidebar under the nodes section.
 

Detailed Node Descriptions

Zoho IoT Device instance Configuration Node

Credential File: Device Credential File downloaded from Device Connection details page

Connection Type: Device Connection type in Zoho IoT Application,

1.Security Token With TLS
2.Client Certificate With TLS
3.Security Token Without TLS

SECURITY TOKEN WITH TLS:
-Credential File
-Root CA File

CLIENT CERTIFICATE WITH TLS:
-Credential File
-Root CA File
-Client Certificate File
-Private Key File

SECURITY TOKEN WITHOUT TLS:
-Credential File

Nodes Usage

Prerequisites:

  1. Zoho IoT Application
  2. Device Instance in Zoho IoT

    If you are new to Zoho IoT Application, please refer to this link below for creating your first Zoho IoT Application,
    Once You got your Zoho IoT Application ready, start creating your First Device to connect with your node-red to publish your data to Zoho IoT. You can also create a device using Direct API Endpoint to onboard node-red application as a Virtual Device.


  3. Zoho IoT Device Credential File & Root CA File

    You can download your device credential and Root CA File from the Device Page under the Connection Details Tab.





  4. Client Certificate File and Private Key File (For Client Certificate TLS)

    If you created a Device with Authentication type of (Client Certificate with TLS), you can create your new certificate or associate the existing one. Where you are prompted to download the Client Certificate and Private Key File. While Creating a new certificate, you can choose your policy type, Once you created your Certificate, you are prompted to download all the necessary files for the connection, which cannot be retrieved later.





Setting Up Device Instance Configuration 

Drag the Zoho IoT node onto your workspace, add a new Device Instance with the credential file, Root CA File downloaded from Zoho IoT Device Page, along with the required Connection type, to Publish the data, and to receive and acknowledge the commands.

Publishing the Data to Zoho IoT (ZOHO IOT PUBLISH NODE)

Once the Device Instance is added, we can use the device instance to publish the data to Zoho IoT. The Zoho IoT Node has the Single Input pin to inject our data, which is further published to your configured Zoho IoT Device Instance. Zoho IoT Node only accepts the JSON format Data.



Subscribing Commands From Zoho IoT Device (ZOHO IOT COMMAND NODE)

​Zoho IoT Command Node, used to subscribe to the Command Topic of the selected device instance and pass it to the next node in the flow. When the command node receives the message from the Zoho IoT Device, it will automatically Acknowledge the Device with the "Command Received" Message.



Command Acknowledgement to Zoho IoT Device(ZOHO IOT COMMAND ACK NODE)

Zoho IoT Command ACK Node, used to publish the command acknowledgement to the received command from the Zoho IoT Device. We can choose the acknowledgement type from the drop down list, it will automatically map with the Command ACK Code to acknowledge the Device.
 
 

EXAMPLE FLOW USAGE