Considerations

Licensing

  • When you designate Scan Points, you are installing the packet capture library, WinPcap 3.1 from http://www.winpcap.org/).
  • Nmap is distributed as a .zip file. To extract it,IBM BigFix temporarily downloads and uses Info-Zip's decompression tool. Info-Zip is an open-source decompression utility. For more information about Info-Zip, see http://www.info-zip.org/.

Potential scanning issues

  • Network scans might trigger Intrusion Detection Systems. To minimize this possibility, set the Nmap scanning mode to 0 ('Paranoid'), or modify your IDS to allow Nmap scans. This might cause scans to take longer.
  • Network scans might cause certain legacy network devices, such as old network printer devices, to fail if scanned.
  • Network scans might cause personal firewalls to advise you that a computer is scanning the local computer. Modify your firewall to allow Nmap scans.
  • Nmap is sometimes flagged by virus scanners as a potentially harmful tool. Ensure that your virus scanner is not set to block Nmap from running.
  • If you set Nmap to scan a very large network, it might take several hours and consume significant bandwidth during the scan. The default scan is the local Class C network, which is usually a fast LAN. It is not recommended that you scan large networks across the WAN with this tool.
  • Using Nmap to scan is typically a very safe operation, but there may be issues specific to your organization that must be addressed. Obtain the appropriate authorization from your network team before proceeding.