Mailing List Archive

nessus 3 command line scanning
I have some questions about NESSUS scanning in scheduled batch file modes

There is a hint that on a Linux client system, you can submit a scan using
nessus -q [.-pPS} <host> <port> <user> <password> <targets-file>
<results-file>

There is no mention of a separate scan settings or configuration file in the
above-mentioned line in the documentation for Nessus3 client on UNIX.

The Windows GUI client apparently scan configuration/settings files for each
"session" but I am not sure about the LINUX client.

The task:

Ideally I would like to generate scans in batch mode using different scan
settings for different target ranges. Scans should be started simultaneously
on different scan servers in different portions of the network and different
physical locations.

The scan would ideally be started via communication over an encrypted port
e.g.via a putty/port22 command line interface to submit commands or
forwarded x-traffic over port22.

a) does the LINUX GTK client generate a scan configuration file and where is
the file to be found?

b) If the Linux GTK client does generate a scan settings file, are the files
of the windows and linux clients interchangeable?

c) If they are not, is it planned to make them interchangeable?

d) There is no mention of whether a batch job on windows-client machine can
also accept command line parameters in a similar fashion - Is there a
command line interface for the windows client?

e) is port 1421 encrypted? and/or do you have experience with port
forwarding Nessus communications through port22?

f) [how] is it possible for one client to start simultaneous scans on
different scan servers and keep the results apart?
(e.g. change the Nessus port from 1421 for the different scan servers!?!?)

thanks in advance