Nexpose Quick Start GuideCopy link

This quick start guide is designed to get you up and running with the Security Console in as little time as possible.

We’ll guide you through the first 90 days, providing assistance with:

  • Days 1-15: Installing and activating the console, pairing the console to a scan engine, creating, and scanning a site.

  • Days 16-45: Creating a set of shared credentials, scheduling a scan, and creating a report.

  • Days 46-90: Tagging and grouping assets, scheduling a report, setting up goals/SLAs, and remediating vulnerabilities.

  • Days 90+: Providing additional resources to help you to scale your security program and customize to your needs.

Benefits of the Security ConsoleCopy link

In short, the Security Console is an on-premises vulnerability scanner and management system. Its core features allow you to identify risk in your environment, organize your devices, and prioritize remediation.

Core ComponentsCopy link

Your Nexpose installation has the following components:

Component Description

Security Console

This is the component you’ll use to create sites, run scans, generate reports, and much more. The Security Console is accessed via a web-based user interface through any of our supported browsers.

PostgreSQL database

The embedded PostgreSQL database stores all the asset scan data and is used for generating reports.

Scan Engine

Scan Engines are responsible for performing scan jobs on your assets. Note that Scan Engines only store scan data temporarily before sending it back to the Security Console for integration and long-term storage.

RequirementsCopy link

Before you start, ensure you have the following in place.

System requirementsCopy link

The following system requirements are necessary to ensure you have the best experience.

System requirement considerationCopy link

Network requirementsCopy link

Programs and servicesCopy link

Several programs and services must be disabled for the Security Console to function. In general, the following services may interfere with network scanning and may also prevent checks from loading or executing:

  • Anti-virus / malware detectors: If disabling your anti-virus or malware detection software is not an option, make sure that you configure the software to bypass the Rapid7 installation directory on your Security Console host (the default location for this directory on Windows is C:\Program Files\Rapid7). This ensures that Nexpose can operate without interference from this kind of software.

  • Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS)

  • Personal firewalls

  • Executable blocking products

  • SELinux

Days 1-15: Build your FoundationCopy link

During your initial stages of onboarding, you will set up the foundational tools and features of Nexpose. Within the first 15 days, you will:

  • Install and activate the console

  • Create a site

  • Run your first scan

Installation OptionsCopy link

Download and install on LinuxCopy link

  1. Download the latest Linux installer: Linux installer

  2. Use the following checksum file to verify the integrity of your installer and ensure that it wasn’t corrupted during the download process: sha512sum for Linux download

  3. Make sure your installer and checksum file are in the same directory.

  4. Open a terminal and browse to the directory where your installer and checksum file are located.

  5. Run the following command, substituting with the appropriate value: sha512sum -c <installer_file_name>.sha512sum.

  6. Do not close command line window. A command line window will appear during installation. You do not need to interact with it, but do not close this window.

  7. If this command returns an OK message, the file is valid. If the check fails, the file was found to be invalid. Download the installer again and retry.

  8. Modify the permissions of the installer to make it executable: chmod +x <installer_file_name>.bin

  9. Run the installer: ./<installer_file_name> -c

  10. Follow the instructions prompted by the installer.

Download and install on WindowsCopy link

The Windows installer is released on a regular basis with each product update. Use the following checksum file to verify the integrity of your installer and ensure that it wasn’t corrupted during the download process: sha512sum for Windows download

Install on WindowsCopy link

  1. Download the latest installer: Windows installer

  2. Use the following checksum files to verify the integrity of your installer and ensure that it wasn’t corrupted during the download process: sha512sum for Windows download

  3. Make sure your installer and checksum file are in the same directory.

  4. Open a command prompt and browse to the directory where your installer and checksum are located.

  5. Run the following command, substituting with the appropriate value: certutil -hashfile <installer_file_name> sha512

  6. Run the installer. Do not close command line window. A command line window will appear during the installation, but you will not need to interact with it. Do not close this window.

  7. Double-click the installer icon. A message displays while the wizard is preparing. Once the wizard is done preparing, you will be sent to the Welcome page to begin installation.

  8. Follow the steps as the wizard guides you. This is where you will decide on the considerations mentioned previously throughout the process.

Log in and activateCopy link

Initialization progress

If you just started to initialize after installation, it may still be in progress when you connect to the Security Console. You must wait for this process to complete before you can log in.

  1. Open your supported browser and connect to the following address, substituting <console_address> with the FQDN or IP address of the machine where your Security Console is installed: https://<console_address>:3780

  2. A login prompt will display. Enter the credentials that you set up during the Security Console installation and click LOG ON.

  3. After you log in successfully, an activation prompt will appear. Enter your activation key in the provided field to activate.

Accessing the Security Console from the same machine that it's installed on?

In this case, you can quickly access the web interface by connecting to https://localhost:3780.

Get familiar with the consoleCopy link

Familiarize yourself with the Security Console Home page and get an introduction to some of the features you’ll use on a regular basis. This section covers some initial functions, display objects, navigation, and quick links to features, settings, and other resources.

Install and pair a distributed scan engineCopy link

Distributed Scan Engines are separate from the Security Console and are strategically provisioned and located in a way that makes your scanning environment as efficient as possible. If you intend to maintain a production deployment of the Security Console, distributed Scan Engines are an absolute necessity.

Refresh the scan engineCopy link

After completing a standard or reverse pair for your Scan Engine, you must refresh its status to verify that the Security Console can communicate with it properly.

Create and scan your first siteCopy link

Days 16-45: Identify Your Threat LandscapeCopy link

Now that you have done the fundamental steps for setup it’s a good opportunity to set up some of the core features of Nexpose. You will learn how to set up and use features that will help you to share your findings with your team and stakeholders. Within days 16-45, you will have:

  • Created a set of shared credentials

  • Scheduled a scan, so you can regularly check your assets

  • Created a report, so you can share findings with key stakeholders

Generate Shared CredentialsCopy link

Scanning with credentials allows you to gather information about your network and assets that you could not otherwise access. You can inspect assets for a wider range of vulnerabilities. Using shared credentials can save time if you need to perform authenticated scans on a high number of assets in multiple sites that require the same credentials.

Schedule a scanCopy link

Depending on your security policies and routines, you may schedule certain scans to run on a monthly basis, such as patch verification checks, or on an annual basis, such as certain compliance checks. It’s a good practice to run discovery scans and vulnerability checks more often—perhaps every week or two weeks, or even several times a week, depending on the importance or risk level of these assets. It is also recommended to schedule scans to align with patching cycles. You can also schedule scans to avoid periods of high site traffic.

Generate Your First ReportCopy link

You can share the results of any completed scans by generating reports.

The Security Console displays the report configuration screen, which is composed of three clickable tabs for creating new reports, viewing saved reports, and managing existing report templates.

Days 46-90: Respond to Your FindingsCopy link

During this stage, you will set up tools that will help you to use Nexpose more efficiently and organize your assets in a way that suits you. During days 46-90 days, you will:

  • Organize your assets by tagging and grouping them

  • Schedule a report to run

  • Set up goals and SLAs

  • Learn more about the remediation of vulnerabilities

Tag and group assetsCopy link

Schedule a reportCopy link

To schedule this export to automatically occur periodically, you need to use the Report Creation Wizard in Query Builder, which you used to create a report during days 16-45. Recurring reports are a great idea for production scanning environments.

  1. On the Reports tab in the left navigation menu, click the Create a report tab.

  2. Give your report a name.

  3. (Optional) Adjust the time zone that will be stamped on the report by making a selection in the provided dropdown list. By default, the Security Console chooses the time zone according to what is detected on its host machine.

  4. In Template, select the appropriate template.

  5. In File format, select the required format.

  6. In Scope, click Select Scan. A site selection window displays. Select the required site.

  7. Click Select Scan.

  8. On the Select Scan window, select the most recent scan for this site and click OK.

  9. In Frequency, select Run a recurring report on a schedule is selected.

  10. Select a Start date and time.

  11. Select a pattern of recurrence, specifying how many times it should run and whether it should be on a hourly, weekly, monthly basis.

  12. Review your report configuration and verify that everything is correct.

  13. Click Save.

Remediate VulnerabilitiesCopy link

A remediation project is a group of solutions for vulnerabilities that need to be remediated on a specific set of assets within a certain time frame. Remediation projects make it simpler to prioritize, drive, and track remediation progress by showing you the true state of the remediation. Project metrics automatically update as known vulnerabilities are no longer found, so that you can fully visualize the achievements of your remediation teams.

With remediation projects, you can:

  • Communicate relevant context and prioritizations to the right people

  • Track the progress of remediation projects

  • Identify the remediation work that teams are working on at a glance

  • Automatically identify, assign, and monitor remediation progress

For more information see:

Days 90+Copy link

At this stage, you can build on and customize the key elements of the product we’ve introduced in days 1-90 to scale your security program. For additional support, you can explore our products further, using the following resources.

Topic Resources

Learn More

The Rapid7 Academy provides training content, webcasts, workshops, certification courses, and other content created by our expert instructors.

We share our research on security issues and trends here.

You can refer to our help documentation.

Stay Up-To-Date

You can stay up to date with what’s going on at Rapid7 by subscribing to our mailing lists. We also regularly post update notifications in-product.

We also have RSS feeds for our blog and release notes.

You can also sign up for product status updates, such as events like degradations, outages, etc. on status.rapid7.com

Get Involved

Rapid7 Discuss is an active forum where you can find out more about and discuss Rapid7 products.

Rapid7 Voice is a network of Rapid7 customers, with whom you can share and learn.

Contact Support

If you need assistance from our support team, you can contact them here.