Tenable Nessus Network Monitor Hardware Requirements
Enterprise networks can vary in performance, capacity, protocols, and overall activity. Resource requirements to consider for Tenable Nessus Network Monitor deployments include raw network speed, the size of the network being monitored, and the configuration of Tenable Nessus Network Monitor.
The following chart outlines some basic hardware requirements for operating Tenable Nessus Network Monitor:
| Version | Installation scenario | RAM | Processor | Hard Disk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Versions | Tenable Nessus Network Monitor managing up to 50,000 hosts * (**) | 2 GB RAM (4 GB RAM recommended) | 2 2GHz cores | 20 GB HDD minimum |
| Tenable Nessus Network Monitor managing more than 50,000 hosts ** | 4 GB RAM (8 GB RAM recommended) | 4 2GHz cores | 20 GB HDD minimum | |
| Tenable Nessus Network Monitor running in High Performance mode | 16 GB RAM (HugePages memory: 2 GB) | 10 2GHz cores with hyper-threading enabled | 20 GB HDD minimum |
*The ability to monitor a given number of hosts depends on the bandwidth, memory, and processing power available to the system running Tenable Nessus Network Monitor.
**For optimal data collection, Tenable Nessus Network Monitor must be connected to the network segment via a hub, spanned port, or network tap to have a full, continuous view of network traffic.
Note: Research your VM software vendor for comparative recommendations, as VMs typically see up to a 30% loss in efficiency compared to dedicated servers. Tenable Nessus Network Monitor supports VMware's vmxnet3 driver.
High Performance Mode
To run Tenable Nessus Network Monitor in High Performance mode, a minimum of two of the following types of Intel NICs are required; one as a management interface and at least one as a monitoring interface:
- e1000 (82540, 82545, 82546)
- e1000e (82571, 82574, 82583, ICH8.ICH10, PCH.PCH2)
- igb (82575, 82576, 82580, I210, I211, I350, I354, DH89xx)
- ixgbe (82598, 82599, X540, X550)
- i40e (X710, XL710)
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NT40A01-4x1