Get Started With Tenable Security Center Director

Use the following getting started sequence to configure and mature your Tenable Security Center Director deployment. A fully configured Tenable Security Center Director deployment includes one Tenable Security Center Director and one or more managed Tenable Security Center instances. For more information, see Tenable Security Center Director Deployments.

1. Prepare

2. Configure Managed Tenable Security Center Instances

3. Install

4. Monitor Scans

5. Refine

6. Expand

Prepare

Before you begin, learn about Tenable Security Center and Tenable Security Center Director, then establish a deployment plan and analysis workflow to guide your configurations.

• Design a deployment plan by identifying your organization's objectives and analyzing your network topology. Consider Tenable-recommended best practices for your environment.

  Tenable Security Center Director cannot perform scans. Plan your deployment to ensure you have adequate scan coverage on the Tenable Security Center instances you plan to manage from Tenable Security Center Director.

• Design an analysis workflow. Identify key stakeholders in your management and operational groups, considering the data you intend to share with each stakeholder.

For more information about planning a large enterprise deployment of Tenable Security Center, see the Tenable Security Center Large Enterprise Deployment Guide.

Configure Managed Tenable Security Center Instances

Configure the Tenable Security Center instances you want to manage with Tenable Security Center Director.

1. Install and fully configure Tenable Security Center on your managed Tenable Security Center instances, as described in Get Started With Tenable Security Center in the Tenable Security Center User Guide.

   Note: You must run the same version of Tenable Security Center on your entire Tenable Security Center Director deployment, including Tenable Security Center Director and all managed Tenable Security Center instances that you connect to Tenable Security Center Director. Tenable Security Center Director cannot communicate with managed Tenable Security Center instances that are running a different version of Tenable Security Center.

2. To ensure that your Tenable Security Center instances can connect to Tenable Security Center Director, apply the required license upgrade to each managed Tenable Security Center instance, as described in Update an Existing License in the Tenable Security Center User Guide.

3. Generate API keys for an administrator on each managed Tenable Security Center instance, as described in Generate API Keys in the Tenable Security Center User Guide.

Install

Install Tenable Security Center Director and perform initial configuration.

Note: You cannot upgrade Tenable Security Center to Tenable Security Center Director. If you want to install Tenable Security Center Director on a host where Tenable Security Center is already installed, you must uninstall Tenable Security Center and perform a clean installation of Tenable Security Center Director on that host. For more information, see Uninstall Tenable Security Center.

Note: You must run the same version of Tenable Security Center on your entire Tenable Security Center Director deployment, including Tenable Security Center Director and all managed Tenable Security Center instances that you connect to Tenable Security Center Director. Tenable Security Center Director cannot communicate with managed Tenable Security Center instances that are running a different version of Tenable Security Center.

1. Prepare for the installation, as described in Before You Install.

2. Install Tenable Security Center Director, as described in Install Tenable Security Center Director.

3. Perform quick setup, as described in Quick Setup. You can:

   • Apply activation codes for Tenable Nessus, Tenable Nessus Network Monitor, and Log Correlation Engine to allow Tenable Security Center Director to perform plugin updates

   • Connect Tenable Security Center instances you want to manage with Tenable Security Center Director

   • Create one organization

   • Create one administrator user account and one security manager account

   • Configure usage statistic collection

   Tenable recommends following the quick setup wizard, but you can configure these features later. For example, do not configure LDAP until you have easy access to all necessary LDAP parameters.

4. Configure SMTP settings, as described in The Mail option designates SMTP settings for all email-related Tenable Security Center functions. Available options include SMTP host, port, authentication method, encryption, and return address. In addition, you can use the Test SMTP Settings in the upper left corner of the page to validate the settings..

5. Configure remote repositories, if necessary, as described in Repositories.

6. Configure security settings (e.g., password complexity requirements and custom banners), as described in Use the Security section to define the Tenable Security Center user interface login parameters and options for account logins. You can also configure banners, headers, and classification headers and footers..

7. Configure and connect additional managed Tenable Security Center instances, if necessary, as described in Connect a Managed Tenable Security Center Instance.

Monitor Scans

On your managed Tenable Security Center instances, configure and run basic scans, as described in Getting Started with Tenable Security Center in the Tenable Security Center User Guide.

In Tenable Security Center Director, monitor running scans and scan results to begin evaluating the effectiveness of your deployment plan and analysis workflow.

• Monitor running scans and scanner availability using the Insights Dashboard.

• When the scans complete, create template-based dashboards and reports, as described in Dashboards and Reports.

Tenable recommends frequently reviewing your scan results and scan coverage. You may need to modify your scan configurations to suit your organization's objectives and reach all areas of your network.

Tip: You can manage scan policy configurations for active scans on your managed Tenable Security Center instances from Tenable Security Center Director using the Tenable Security Center Director API. For more information, see the Tenable Security Center API Guide.

Refine

Configure other features in Tenable Security Center Director, if necessary, and refine your existing configurations.

• Configure audit files, as described in Audit Files.

• Configure groups, as described in Add a Group.

• Create a custom user role, as described in Create a User Role.

• Create additional user accounts and share objects with users, as described in User Accounts.

• Create dynamic assets and combination assets, as described in Add a Custom Asset. For more information about asset types, see Assets.

• Review the plugin update schedule, as described in Edit Plugin and Feed Settings and Schedules. Consider editing the schedules to suit your needs. For example, you may want to schedule plugin and feed updates to run a few hours before your scheduled scans.

• Add queries and use filters, as described in Add or Save a Query and Apply a Filter.

• Create custom dashboards and reports, as described in Dashboards and Reports.

• Configure alerts and ticketing, as described in Workflow Actions.

• View vulnerability data and use the built-in analysis tools, as described in Vulnerability Analysis.

Expand

Review and mature your deployment plan and analysis workflow.

• Conduct weekly meetings to review your organization's responses to identified vulnerabilities.

• Conduct weekly management meetings to oversee your teams executing the analysis workflow.

• Review scan automation settings on your managed Tenable Security Center instances and consider revising.

• Review your scan results and scan coverage. You may need to modify your scan configurations on your managed Tenable Security Center instances to suit your organization's objectives and reach all areas of your network.

• Optimize and operationalize your custom dashboards to meet the needs of individual user account holders.

• Optimize and operationalize your custom reports to prepare them for distribution.

• Consider configuring API integrations, as described in the Tenable Security Center API Guide and the Tenable Security Center API Best Practices Guide.