Installing scan agents via Docker

You can install the Invicti Enterprise scan agent on any operating system that has Docker Linux installed. Using Docker eliminates the need to install unnecessary files, such as drivers or operating system kernels, and removes the hassle of manually managing dependencies, ensuring a smoother installation process.

This document provides guidance on installing and running the scan agent using Docker. It includes a list of environment variables and explains how to retrieve scanner agent logs.

Our documentation assumes that Docker and Docker Compose Plugin are installed on your system. While deploying agents without Docker Compose is possible, it requires manually converting the docker-compose.yml configuration into equivalent docker run commands. This process may involve replicating environment variables, volume mappings, network settings, and other parameters defined in the Compose file. Refer to the official Docker documentation for more information.

Installing and running a scan agent via Docker has four steps. Ensure your system meets the prerequisites listed below, follow the instructions outlined in each step, and refer to our whitelisting guidelines to ensure uninterrupted operation:

Whitelisting guidelines

Refer to these documents to whitelist the correct IP addresses based on your region:

• Whitelisting requirements for Invicti Enterprise On_Demand - US region 
• Whitelisting requirements for Invicti Enterprise On_Demand - US-2 region 
• Whitelisting requirements for Invicti Enterprise On_Demand - EU region 
• Whitelisting requirements for Invicti Enterprise On_Demand - CA region 
• Whitelisting requirements for Invicti Enterprise On-Premises

Prerequisites

• You already have a Docker host deployed, including the Docker compose plugin.
• Ensure that the user you use to log in to the Docker host is a member of the Docker group or you have sudo rights.
• Docker - to verify Docker installation on your OS, run the 'docker --version' command in Terminal. If you have Docker, Terminal shows the version information. Otherwise, it shows an error message. For more information about installing Docker, refer to the Docker website.
• 4 GB RAM or higher is recommended per agent.
• 2 CPU cores per agent as a minimum.

How to install a scan agent via Docker

Installing and running a scan agent via Docker has two steps. Ensure your system meets the prerequisites listed below, then follow the instructions outlined in each step.

Step 1: Pulling the Docker scan agent from the registry

1. In Invicti Enterprise, select Agents > Manage Agents from the left-side menu.
2. Click + Configure New Agent.

• The information needed for the remaining steps in this section is now visible in the Docker CLI & Openshift section.

3. Click the copy to clipboard icon next to the first step in the Docker CLI & Openshift instructions.

4. Open Terminal and paste the command you copied from Invicti Enterprise in the previous step.

• Terminal will now ask for a password.

5. Click the copy to clipboard icon next to the second step in the Docker CLI & Openshift instructions, then paste the password into Terminal.

• You are now logged in to the Invicti registry.

6. Click the copy to clipboard icon next to the third step For Docker Agent, then paste the command into Terminal.

• The latest version of Invicti Enterprise will now be pulled from the Invicti registry into Docker.

Step 2: Deploying the scanner agent

1. Create a folder for the agent configuration and navigate to the folder in Terminal.

2. Create a compose.yml file in the folder (using a text editor like nano) with the following contents. Ensure that you adjust the values for:

• ApiRootUrl (the URL for your web application)
• ApiToken (retrieved from the Configure New Agent page)
• AgentName (this needs to be unique per scanner agent)
• image (version number retrieved from the Configure New Agent page)

3. Start your Docker scanner agent using the command below. If you encounter a permission error, ensure that the user you are using belongs to the Docker user group or run the command with sudo.

4. In the Invicti Enterprise web application, select Agents > Manage Agents from the left-side menu.
5. Look for the new agent to confirm that it has started. Depending on the resources available to the Docker and web application machines, this may take a few minutes.

Environment variables

For Docker agents, the appsettings.json file is not used and will be ignored.

The sample compose.yml file includes an environment section with a minimal set of variables required to start the container. You can add other variables as needed. Refer to the following list for some additional variables you can configure:

Optional parameters for custom certificates

If you want to inject custom certificates into the docker agent, you need additional parameters while creating a container:

• “/etc/pki/tls/certs” represents the path to certificates on the Docker host, {cert path - docker host}
• “/home/invicti/certificates” represents the path to certificates in the container, {cert path - docker container}
• Replace <certificate_name>.cer with the actual name of the certificate being used.
• If the certificate has a password, replace <password> with the password. If there is no password, omit this part: -e "CERT_1_PASSWORD=<password>".

Optional parameters for proxy

Obtaining scanner agent logs

You can view the scanner agent logs directly by running the following command. Replace <container_id> with the ID or name of the container running the scanner agent.