Installation guide
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PVS records its detected vulnerabilities to a .nsr or .nessus, file(s), depending on the configuration of the PVS. When
used with SecurityCenter 4.6 or IPv6 networks, the PVS scanner must use the .nessus file format to record its data.
When deployed for operation with SecurityCenter, the PVS uses an agent named the PVS Proxy. This agent is a server
that waits for inbound connections from SecurityCenter.
By default, the PVS Proxy listens on port 1243. The port is not hard-coded, and can easily be modified for operation on an
alternate port.
SecurityCenter will ask the PVS Proxy for the latest (if any) vulnerability report every 15 minutes. If the PVS is configured
to record its passive vulnerability data every six hours, then new passive vulnerability data will only be available to
SecurityCenter every six hours.
By default, SecurityCenter will check every 24 hours to see if any new passive vulnerability plugins have been
downloaded from Tenable and will push them out to each PVS scanner.
The screen capture below shows a listing of working PVS scanners:
To configure one or more of Tenable’s PVS servers, under the “Resources” tab select “Passive Scanners”. This will
produce a form that lists all configured PVS devices and their current status. Selecting the “Update Status” button will
initiate a connection from SecurityCenter to obtain and refresh the status of the PVS scanners.
To enable a PVS, add the PVS scanner IP address or hostname, the port its proxy is listening on (1243, by default), its
username, password, and then select the repository that will be subscribed to the PVS data. Pressing “Ctrl” or “Shift” on
the keyboard when clicking will allow for the selection of multiple repositories to be subscribed to the PVS data. If PVS 3.8
will be reporting IPv4 and IPv6 data, at least two repositories (one for IPv4 and one for IPv6) must be selected. Versions
of PVS prior to 3.8 only report IPv4 data.
It is recommended to use passwords that are at least eight characters in length and include a combination of
lower and upper-case letters along with non-alphabetic characters.