We are planning on upgrading to the 2026 version of Connect soon. If we upgrade to latest, will Connect automate currently installed continue to work? (given all configuration are still same)
And in the screenshot Node-Red 5.0.1 is available now. Is there correlation in regards to what version of Connect is currently installed? Do we need to update Node-Red separately when new updates are available?
Once we upgrade to 2026, will we need to install the Connect Automate matching same version?
Any files needs to be backed up before upgrading/updating?
Hi,
hope this will help. So far I have been updating Node Red manually and have not encountered any issues. I also update Node.js to the LTS (Long-Term Support) version using NVM (Node Version Manager).
F
We’re currently actively working on OLCA 1.2. As part of this release, we’re planning to upgrade to Node-RED 5, introduce an updated theme, and include several other improvements and enhancements.
At the moment, we don’t have an ETA to share yet, as we’re still defining the full scope of the release and prioritizing the work. Once the scope is finalized and we have a more reliable timeline, we’ll be happy to share an update with the community.
Hi,
let me explain a bit better our approach. We update manually because we use Node-red and Node.js outside of just the limits of OL-Connect because they offer so many features. Due to possible bugs, security and vulnerabilities we want to update whenever we feel it needs to be.
Now OL-Connect and all other modules get installed under the user name that runs the node-red service, so to answer the question nothing happens to them just like nothing happens to the other modules in Node-Red. Now when you update/upgrade Node-Red and Node.js read the release notes, some updates/upgrades did make some modules unsupported till they were fixed or we had to adapt some Node.js coding. We recently tried running multiple instances of Node-Red successfully, that’s an example of why we update/upgrade manually.
Hi,
forgot to mention we take snapshots before doing updates since we are in a VM environment so we can easily revert back. Also if you use NVM it’s easy to switch back to previous versions of Node.js.
When you update Node-RED, this doesn’t touch the installed OL nodes. So as long as the nodes are compatible with the new version of Node-RED, these will continue to function in the same way.
Major version upgrades of Node-RED (like 4 to 5) are where Node-RED can introduce breaking changes. In the case of the 4 > 5 upgrade, the only breaking change relevant for us is the UI-theme. So Node-RED 5 will not look OK in combination with the theme installed by the OLCA installer 1.1 or lower.
They also require Node.js 22 now (and recommend Node.js 24). The OL nodes work fine with all these Node.js versions.
For minor and patch releases of Node-RED (from 4.0. to 4.1, or from 4.1.1 to 4.1.2) generally will not conflict with your existing OL Connect Automate version.
In general, manual updating requires some care in choosing the right location and keeping track of where your files and settings are located.
Awesome. Thanks for the tidbit! I feel like we should wait for OL proper documentation on the matter. Node-Red isnt one of our tooling outside OL Connect so we have no real world experience with it. Also our time is bit limited to how much we spend on areas of our tooling if the risk of breaking is high, especially on tools we are not familiar with.
@voortmac We are looking more on best practice in your opinion how to go about maintaining OL Connect regards to Node-Red. To avoid downtime as much as possible. For example, do we just wait for your next iteration of Connect Automate Update/Upgrade? And disregard any Node-Red popup updates to keep it simple and straight forward.
