Greenbone’s OPENVAS SCAN Now Supports the Proxmox VE Hypervisor
Users appreciate when software can easily integrate into their existing IT environment. For vendors, this means supporting a cross-platform mix of operating systems and infrastructure. We’re excited to expand our virtualization platform support, bringing Proxmox VE into our family of supported hypervisors. This addition enables more flexibility for deploying OPENVAS SCAN in diverse IT environments. A free trial of Greenbone’s OPENVAS BASIC is available for Proxmox VE users and others to scan their IT infrastructure for vulnerabilities and stay ahead of cyber attacks.
For maximum security and reliable performance, Greenbone’s enterprise edition of OPENVAS SCAN must run inside the Greenbone Operating System (GOS). However, this is hardly a limitation since there are many ways to deploy Greenbone products. Firstly, Greenbone is the only provider worldwide to offer ready-to-use, dedicated hardware appliances. As for the virtual appliance editions of our products, the wide range of supported hypervisors ensures you can run our solution within all major OS platforms. OPENVAS SECURITY INTELLIGENCE is truly cross-platform. For a full breakdown of our product offerings, check out our solution comparison.
Now, we are expanding our hypervisor support to include Proxmox VE. In the rest of this article, we will discuss getting started with the OPENVAS SCAN virtual appliance in the Proxmox VE Type-1 hypervisor.
The OPENVAS SCAN Virtual Appliance Now Supports Proxmox VE Type-1 Hypervisor
Greenbone is excited to add support for Proxmox VE virtualization. Proxmox VE is a Debian-Linux based Type-1 hypervisor. As a Type-1 hypervisor, Proxmox VE runs directly on the host’s hardware. This puts virtualized appliances closer to the underlying hardware and delivers improved performance, lower latency, and more efficient use of resources. The overall impact is a faster and more reliable virtualization environment. By contrast, Type-2 hypervisors run on top of the host operating system, adding an extra layer between the hardware and the VMs.
Proxmox VE itself saw its first public release in April 2008, bringing together the Linux kernel’s KVM hypervisor and QEMU for hardware emulation via a Debian-based management platform. QEMU has been an open-source machine emulator since 2003 and is now maintained by the QEMU Project community. Linux KVM appeared in the mainline kernel in February 2007, and continues to support the Linux virtualization ecosystem.
Whether you are an existing Greenbone enterprise customer looking for new virtualization options, or already a Proxmox VE user waiting for support, we now have you covered.
How to Set up OPENVAS SCAN on Proxmox VE?
Customers can request a Proxmox VE-ready instance of the OPENVAS SCAN virtual appliance from a member of the Greenbone sales team. This specialized image, delivered as a .zst backup file, is optimized for Proxmox. Once you receive the .zst file, complete the following steps to install and configure the OPENVAS SCAN virtual appliance:
- Use the SSH secure copy command (scp) to move the .zst file to the appropriate folder on your Proxmox VE system. This is usually the /var/lib/vz/dump folder. So, a typical command would be:
|
$ scp /path/to/vzdump-qemu-greenbone-enterprise-basic-24.10.6-proxmox.vma.zst root@192.168.1.123:/var/lib/vz/dump |
- The backup image will now appear in the Proxmox VE web interface on the left-side under Storage -> local (pve) -> Backups.
- Highlight the uploaded file and click the Restore button. The OPENVAS SCAN virtual appliance is pre-configured with the optimal virtual hardware settings and required minimum resources. If more performance is desired, you can increase the resources, such as CPU and RAM before or after importing the appliance.
- Once imported, the VM will appear in the Virtual Machine tab on the left of the Proxmox VE web interface. You can highlight the VM and click Start at the far right.
- Finally, you can open a NoVNC console to the running VM from the >_ Console button at the far right and complete the OPENVAS SCAN setup process.
Which Hypervisors Does the OPENVAS SCAN Virtual Appliance Support?
To help users choose the best deployment method for their environment, the information below provides an overview of OPENVAS SCAN’s required resources and hypervisor support.
The OPENVAS SCAN virtual appliance requires the following resources:
- 2 virtual CPUs
- 12 GB RAM
- 500 GB virtual hard disk (can be dynamically allocated)
The following hypervisors are officially supported:
Summary
Greenbone has added support for deploying our OPENVAS SCAN virtual appliance on the Proxmox VE Type-1 hypervisor, giving customers a faster, more flexible, and hardware-efficient way to run enterprise vulnerability scanning. This new capability extends the virtualization options, ensuring users can confidently integrate OPENVAS SCAN into diverse IT environments. A free trial of Greenbone’s OPENVAS BASIC is available for Proxmox VE users and others to scan their IT infrastructure for emerging threats and stay ahead of cyber attacks.
