How to setup and run Nessus 2.2.

9 from the Linux shell

A) Installing Nessus Server

1) Download Nessus from http://www.nessus.org/download/ using lynx broswer

2) sh nessus-installer-2.2.9.sh
3) yum install sharutils
4) yum install flex
5) yum install bison
6) Register the Nessus server after installation using nessus-mkcert to receive
plugins
/usr/local/sbin/nessus-mkcert
7) Add a nessus user using nessus-adduser
/usr/local/sbin/nessus-adduser
8) Run nessus-update-plugins to update the plugins
4) Setup a cron job to update plugins every night
crontab -e
0 0 * * * /usr/local/sbin/nessus-update-plugins
5) Run the nessus server as a daemon using the command
/usr/local/sbin/nessusd -D

B) Running the Nessus client from the Linux shell

1) cd /root
mkdir nessus
vi /root/nessus/target
#Enter the target server/ips to scan separated by commas
2) Run the nessus client for the first time using the following command
/usr/local/bin/nessus -T html -qxV serverip 1241 username pass
/root/nessus/target /root/nessus/results.html

#Warning :The following section is known to have some issues.You can ignore this
for the time being
3)cp -a /root/.nessusrc /root/nessus/.nessusrc
cd /root/nessus
Go to http://www.tifaware.com/code/update-nessusrc/update-nessusrc
vi update-nessusrc
Copy paste the script from the page in this file
Edit the file as required .

Execute the following

/usr/local/sbin/nessus-update-plugins

perl /root/nessus/update-nessusrc /root/nessus/.nessusrc

Verify the newly created .nessusrc and make changes if required.

Run the following command subsequently to scan a target

/usr/local/bin/nessus -c /root/nessus/.nessusrc -T html -qx localhost 1241

username pass /root/nessus/target /root/nessus/results.html

To enable all plugins including ones which can crash a remote host , do the
following

a)
vi /usr/local/etc/nessus/nessusd.conf
Replace yes with no on the line safe_checks

b)
run the following command

/usr/local/sbin/nessus-update-plugins

c)
perl /root/nessus/update-nessusrc -c
"attack,infos,mixed,scanner,settings,denial,destructive_attack,kill_host"
/root/nessus/.nessusrc

d) vi /root/nessus/.nessusrc

Search for the line safe_checks and replace yes with no

Search for the line
begin(PLUGIN_SET)
Replace no with yes after every plugin id for where you find a no

Verify the newly created .nessusrc and make changes if required.

Run the following command subsequently to scan a target

/usr/local/bin/nessus -c /root/nessus/.nessusrc -T html -qx localhost 1241
username pass /root/nessus/target /root/nessus/results.html

C) Running the Nessus Client from Windows

Download and install the NessusWX client from http://nessuswx.nessus.org/