Manage Freeze Windows

Required Tenable Vulnerability Management User Role: Scan Manager or Administrator

Use the following procedures to manage your freeze windows. For general information about freeze windows, see Freeze Windows.

Create a Freeze Window

Use this procedure to create freeze windows.

Freeze windows will apply to all linked agents and will prevent the agents from receiving and applying software updates during scheduled windows. Agents still receive plugin updates and continue performing scheduled scans during these windows.

To create a freeze window for linked agents:

  1. In the left navigation, click Sensors.

    The Sensors page appears. By default, the Nessus Scanners tab is active and Linked Scanners is selected in the drop-down box.

  2. Click the Nessus Agents tab.

    The list of agents appears and Linked Agents is selected in the drop-down box.

  3. In the drop-down box, select Freeze Windows.

  4. Click New Freeze Window.

    The New Freeze Window plane appears.

  5. Configure the options as necessary.

  6. Click Save.

    The freeze window is saved and appears on the Freeze Windows page.

Edit a Freeze Window

Use this procedure to manage a freeze window for agent scanning in Tenable Vulnerability Management.

To edit a freeze window:

  1. In the left navigation, click Sensors.

    The Sensors page appears. By default, the Nessus Scanners tab is active and Linked Scanners is selected in the drop-down box.

  2. Click the Nessus Agents tab.

    The list of agents appears and Linked Agents is selected in the drop-down box.

  3. In the drop-down box, select Freeze Windows.

    The list of freeze windows appears.

  4. In the freeze window table, click the freeze window you want to modify.

    The Update a Freeze Window page appears.

  5. Edit the options as necessary.

  6. Click Save to save your changes.

    Tenable Vulnerability Management saves the changes to the freeze window.

Enable or Disable a Freeze Window

Use this procedure to enable or disable a freeze window for linked agents in Tenable Vulnerability Management.

To enable or disable a freeze window for linked agents:

  1. In the left navigation, click Sensors.

    The Sensors page appears. By default, the Nessus Scanners tab is active and Linked Scanners is selected in the drop-down box.

  2. Click the Nessus Agents tab.

    The list of agents appears and Linked Agents is selected in the drop-down box.

  3. In the drop-down box, select Freeze Windows.

  4. Search for the freeze window you want to enable or disable.
  5. In the row for the freeze window you want to enable or disable, click the Status toggle.

    The freeze window is enabled or disabled and a confirmation window appears.

Export Freeze Windows

On the Sensors page, you can export one or more freeze windows in CSV or JSON format.

To export your freeze windows:

  1. In the left navigation, click Sensors.

    The Sensors page appears. By default, the Nessus Scanners tab is active and Linked Scanners is selected in the drop-down box.

  2. Click the Nessus Agents tab.

    The list of agents appears and Linked Agents is selected in the drop-down box.

  3. In the drop-down box, select Freeze Windows.

    The list of freeze windows appears.

  4. (Optional) Refine the table data. For more information, see Tables.

  5. Export selected freeze windows.

    Scope Action
    To export a single freeze window
    1. In the freeze windows table, do one of the following:

      • Right-click the row for the freeze window you want to export.

        The action options appear in the row.

      • In the Actions column, click the button in the row for the freeze window you want to export.

        The action options appear in the row.

      • Select the check box for the freeze window you want to export

        The action bar appears at the top of the table.

    2. Click Export.
    To export multiple freeze windows

    1. In the freeze windows table, select the check box for each freeze window you want to export.

      The action bar appears at the top of the table.

    2. In the action bar, click Export.

      Note: You can individually select and export up to 200 freeze windows. If you want to export more than 200 freeze windows, you must select all the freeze windows on your Tenable Vulnerability Management instance by selecting the check box at the top of the freeze windows table and then click Export.

    The Export plane appears. This plane contains:

    • A text box to configure the export file name.
    • A list of available export formats.
    • A table of configuration options for fields to include in the exported file.

      • Note: By default, all fields are selected.

    • A text box to set the number of days before the export expires.
    • A toggle to configure the email notification.
  6. In the Name box, type a name for the export file.

  7. Click the export format you want to use:

    Format Description
    CSV

    A CSV text file that contains a list of freeze windows.

    Note: If your .csv export file includes a cell that begins with any of the following characters (=, +, -, @), Tenable Vulnerability Management automatically inputs a single quote (') at the beginning of the cell. For more information, see the related knowledge base article.
    JSON

    A JSON file that contains a nested list of freeze windows.

    Empty fields are not included in the JSON file.

  8. (Optional) Deselect any fields you do not want to appear in the export file.

  9. In the Expiration box, type the number of days before the export file expires.

    Note: Tenable Vulnerability Management allows you to set a maximum of 30 calendar days for export expiration.

  10. (Optional) To send email notifications on completion of the export:

    Note: You can enable email notifications with or without scheduling exports.

    • Click the Email Notification toggle.

      The Email Notification section appears.

    • In the Add Recipients box, type the email addresses to which you want to send the export notification.

    • (Required) In the Password box, type a password for the export file. You must share this password with the recipients to allow them to download the file.

      Note: Tenable Vulnerability Management sends an email to the recipients and from the link in the email, the recipients can download the file by providing the correct password.

  11. Click Export.

    Tenable Vulnerability Management begins processing the export. Depending on the size of the exported data, Tenable Vulnerability Management may take several minutes to process the export.

    When processing completes, Tenable Vulnerability Management downloads the export file to your computer. Depending on your browser settings, your browser may notify you that the download is complete.

  12. Access the export file via your browser's downloads directory. If you close the export plane before the download finishes, then you can access your export file in the Export Management View.

Delete a Freeze Window

Use this procedure to delete a freeze window for agent scanning in Tenable Vulnerability Management.

To delete a freeze window for agent scanning:

  1. In the left navigation, click Sensors.

    The Sensors page appears. By default, the Nessus Scanners tab is active and Linked Scanners is selected in the drop-down box.

  2. Click the Nessus Agents tab.

    The list of agents appears and Linked Agents is selected in the drop-down box.

  3. In the drop-down box, select Freeze Windows.

    The list of freeze windows appears.

  4. Delete the selected freeze windows:

    Scope Action
    Delete a single freeze window

    1. In the freeze window table, do one of the following:

      • Right-click the window you want to delete.

        The action options appear in the row.

      • In the Actions column, click the button in the row for the freeze window you want to delete.

        The action options appear in the row.

      • Select the check box for the freeze window you want to delete.

        The action bar appears at the top of the table.

    2. Click Delete.

      A confirmation window appears.
    Delete multiple freeze windows

    1. In the freeze windows table, select the check box next to each window you want to delete.

      The action bar appears at the top of the table.

    2. Click Delete.

      A confirmation window appears.

  5. Click Delete to confirm the deletion.

    Tenable Vulnerability Management deletes the selected freeze window or windows.