----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Eric van Straten <icvanstra@yahoo.com>
To: "Nelson, C.M." <cmn@leicester.ac.uk>
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2007 8:36:43 AM
Subject: Re: Running Nessus On Virtual Machine
Has anyone tried running Nessus on a VMWare ESX server under either
Windows or Linux? If so what OS did you use and did it work?
------------
Good morning Carl,
I have been running Nessus for over a year on Virtual Machines.
We have standardized on RedHat Enterprise Linux v4 for our production linux
servers so I am keeping my Nessus scanning systems on the same version for
sheer ease of management. As I type this response I really should be working
on my VI3 migration...but, I was running Nessus/RHEL4 on top of VMware ESX2 and
after this weekend it will be on VMware ESX3 as well as
moving from HP DL380's to HP DL585's. As a side note: From my initial (and
unscientific) testing I'm already seeing 8x's (plus) in performance
improvements -- Amazing what new hardware can do for you with upgraded software
!! ...that's overall and not specific to Nessus.
So, back to the task at hand...
If you are working from a command line with Nessus on a Linux box running on
VMware ESX server you will see a message state that they do not recommend it.
But... they also do not tell you that you can't! I've been having another
conversation with Tenable and mentioned that I was running on VMWare and the
response that I got (to paraphrase) is that they are worried that "would lead
to significantly longer scan times and even missed vulnerabilities because of
time-outs and lost packets."
So, this is a possible risk when running Nessus in a VM environment. You will
have to decide if longer scan times is an
issue for you. Personally, I discussed this with my boss and he is willing to
accept that. ...your management (or you) may not.
The other gentleman that responded already (Patrick) may be able to respond
better... but I personally have never been a fan of running any scanning tool
on a Virtual Linux box running on top of a Windows based Virtual Host. My
logic behind this is that you are still running on windows. I.E. relying on
the windows TCP/IP stack. I could very well be wrong with this... but I would
trust ESX server to pass the traffic through "unhampered" more than VM
Workstation or VMServer.
If my boss would let me do it (he still doesn't trust *nux) I would have my
work desktop and laptop running Linux and a VM of XP for those things that are
just absolutely windows based (I still interface with MS/Windows/Active
Directory more than I want). For now I have to dual boot my laptop.
As a little
background ... just a couple of years ago I fought hard to keep Virtualization
out of datacenter. Then I switched jobs and was "forced" to take on
responsibility for the VMWare products... and have since fallen in love with
the VMWare ESX server products. I still do not like the end-of-lifed GSX
server (can't wait to remove the last server this weekend), have a passing
knowledge of the workstation products (they are okay for testing...but then
again I have ESX for that personally) and absolutely no knowledge of the VMWare
Server product. BUT, if I were to run VMWare server I would run it on top of
Linux and not windows for the very reason's that I mentioned previously. I
believe that my dislike for the VMWare GSX product is due to the fact that we
are running it on top of W2K.
Sorry if rambled around some. ..but essentially, yes I run it in a VMWare ESX
environment, yes it works, and it's true that Tenable
suggests that you not do it.
Thanks,
Eric
p.s. if you have a dog please give him/her an extra scratch behind the ear for
me ;-)
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