update-nessusrc

[George Theall]

On Tue, Aug 10, 2004 at 09:06:31AM -0700, hack erk wrote:

>    I'm using the script update-nessusrc to configure my .nessusrc file. I
>    find that the script is taking a lot of time... 

update-nessusrc calls nessus to list the plugins available on a server,
which itself can take a while.  How long depends on the load on the
server, the number of plugins available there, the amount of sunspot
activity, the speed of your network, and other factors I'm probably
forgetting about.

> I was not sure if that
>    was fine ... I'm calling it using:
> 
>           update-nessusrc-2.11 -s -d -c "_all_" -f !"Port Scanner"
>    .nessusrc-config

Perhaps the script is hanging because nessus doesn't recognize the
server's certificate.  I added support for handling this in version 2.20
of update-nessusrc, and you appear to be using an older version.  Still,
since you're running the script with the debug option, you should be
able to see whether or not it's hanging. Is it?

>    Will that do the job of enabling all the tests but the scanners?  

First, the family should be "Port scanners", not "Port Scanner".

Second, realize that commandline parameters override variables configured
in the script so you must explicitly enable all families (ie, "-f _all_") 
in addition to excluding those in the "Port scanners" family. 

Finally, the debug option, which you're using, should be telling you
exactly which plugin families and the like are being enabled.  This will
occur after nessus returns the list of available plugins but before
update-nessusrc tells you whether it's enabling each available plugin. 

> and
>    typically how long does update-nessusrc take to generate the config
>    file

See my first paragraph above.

George
-- 
theall at tifaware.com
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