Agent Scanning

To perform agent scanning, Tenable Security Center fetches agent scan results from agent-capable Tenable Nessus Manager or Tenable Vulnerability Management instances. Using Tenable Nessus Agents for scanning reduces network usage and allows devices to maintain their scan schedules even when disconnected from the network. Tenable Security Center fetches these results for review with other acquired information about the host and network.

You can configure one or both methods of fetching agent scan results in Tenable Security Center:

  • Agent scans fetch results from agent scans you add and launch in Tenable Security Center. When you add an agent scan in Tenable Security Center, Tenable Security Center creates a corresponding agent scan in an instance of Tenable Nessus Manager or Tenable Vulnerability Management that you linked to Tenable Security Center. When you launch an agent scan in Tenable Security Center, Tenable Security Center launches the corresponding scan in Tenable Nessus Manager or Tenable Vulnerability Management, then imports the results into Tenable Security Center.

    You can create agent scans in Tenable Security Center using the Advanced Agent Scan template. For more information, see Scan Policy Templates.

    For more information, see Agent Scans.

  • Agent synchronization jobs fetch results from agent scans you previously created and launched in Tenable Nessus Manager or Tenable Vulnerability Management.

    Agent synchronization jobs can fetch results from agent scans configured in Tenable Nessus Manager or Tenable Vulnerability Management using any agent scan template.

    For more information, see Agent Synchronization Jobs.

To configure agent scanning:

  1. Configure Tenable Nessus Agents in either Tenable Nessus Manager or Tenable Vulnerability Management, as described in Deployment Workflow in the Tenable Nessus Agent Deployment and User Guide.

  2. Add your agent-capable Tenable Nessus Manager or Tenable Vulnerability Management instance as a Tenable Nessus scanner in Tenable Security Center, as described in Tenable Nessus Scanners.

  3. Add one or more agent repositories in Tenable Security Center, as described in Add a Repository.

  4. Do one or both of the following:

    • Add an agent scan using the Basic Agent Scan or Advanced Agent Scan template in Tenable Security Center, as described in Add an Agent Scan.

    • Add an agent synchronization job in Tenable Security Center, as described in Add an Agent Synchronization Job.

What to do next: