Step 4: Download and Install the Network Sensor Software

Now that you’ve provisioned your Insight Network Sensor host, you’re ready to download and install the network sensor software. You can download the network sensor installer from the Network Sensors tab of your “Data Collection” screen in your Insight platform home page.

Download the Network Sensor Installer

NOTE - Privileges required

You must be a platform or product administrator to access and download the network sensor installer.

To download the network sensor installer:

  1. Go to insight.rapid7.com and sign in with your Insight account credentials.
    • If you do not see the "My Products & Services" screen upon signing in, open the app switcher in the upper left corner of the screen and click My Account.
  2. Expand your left menu and click the Data Collection Management tab.
  3. On the “Data Collection Management” screen, click the Network Sensors tab.
  4. If this is your first network sensor configuration, click Install to open the download panel.
    • If you’ve already deployed a network sensor before, click the Add New dropdown in the upper right corner of the screen and click Network Sensor.

The network sensor installer comes in the form of an .sh script that you will need to execute on your intended Linux host.

TIP - The network sensor installer includes the Insight Agent

In order for the Insight platform to identify and communicate with your network sensor host, all installations of the network sensor also come prepackaged with the Insight Agent. The token you specify in your installer execution command is the same token that accompanies your standalone Insight Agent deployments.

  1. On the download panel, click the Linux (64-bit) button to download the network sensor installer script. If you’re not downloading the installer directly to the network sensor host, relocate the installer script to your intended host machine.

Install the Network Sensor Software

NOTE - Privileges required

You must have administrator privileges on your network sensor host to complete this installation procedure.

To install the network sensor on your intended host machine:

  1. On your network sensor host, open a terminal and navigate to the current directory of the installer script. Run the following command to make the script executable:
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chmod u+x sensor_installer.sh
  1. If you have not done so already, generate the activation token that the Insight Agent component of the network sensor installer will use to pull its dependencies. After generating, your token will automatically append itself to the network sensor installer execution command that you need to run in the next step.
  2. Copy the execution command as shown in your download panel and run it in the terminal of your network sensor host machine. For reference, this execution command should be in the following format:
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sudo ./sensor_installer.sh install_start --token <region_code>:<token>

Network Sensor sofware installation and NICs

After your network sensor software installation completes, the Insight Agent identifies your network sensor host and reports back to the Insight platform with details of the system, including both your Network Interface Controllers (NICs). You will determine which of these NICs is connected to your network traffic source in the final step of this deployment procedure.