How to edit config file in order to allow for a /16 subnet target?

How to adjust config file (openvassd.conf?) to allow for a 16-bit subnet mask network?
Thanks.

The limitation for maximum IPs per target is implemented in the management service, not the scanner.
The limits are intentional to keep reports in a manageable size.

Please also have a look at this topic:

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Oh okay, so where do I change it in the Management Service?
The report won’t be unmanageable since there are only around 500 live IPs, they are just scattered throughout many different /24 subnets. If I had to manually add individual /24 networks, I’d have to add over 100 target networks! So, like I said the report won’t be unmanageable, but adding that many targets surely would. Is the Management Service accessible from the web page? Thanks.

The management service is called gvmd in

and openvasmd in

The source can be found at

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Sorry, I’m new here, but are you saying I need to download/install a separate product in order to add a /16 network?

Looks like there is a misunderstanding here:

What @bricks wanted to point out is that the limit is not enforced by the scanner (openvassd.conf) as you had initially assumed but within the named/linked manager daemon (openvasmd/gvmd). This was just an informative post to point out where the current upper limit is coming from / enforced.

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Okay, it seems like we are narrowing in on the solution. How do I adjust the upper limit within the manager daemon (openvasmd/gvmd)? Thanks.

I guess it can be adjusted by the --max-ips-per-target option but I am not sure if there is another hard limit.

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I tried out openvasmd --max-ips-per-target 0 but nothing changed can you @bricks help me to figure this out ? Many Thanks!

gvmd has a global hard limit of 70000 hosts per target.

Yeah but a /16 subnet only got 65536 -2 available hosts …

@all Please keep in mind that you shouldn’t run such commands like openvasmd on the command line when running the GCE as this environment is quite different from a GSE installation. You might break permissions and similar when doing so.

Unfortunately i havn’t found any documentation how to set this limit for GCE though.

Let me catch up with that topic:
Is there any config file to adjust the behaviour of gvmd?
Something in /etc/gvm/?

How many dead end threads do I have to search up before getting a solution for this. I do not want to use your UI to define a ton of 192.168.0-128.0/24 networks I’ve inherited. That will be a ginormous pain in the back and every thread either dies like this or has staff/moderators shutting the thread down saying don’t.

I need to do this and your startup parameters aren’t working. No I don’t need to pay for an enterprise version there’s like four hosts in each. Why doesn’t your UI let this be painless.

The fact that this feature is only referenced one every couple years indicates it is not a widely requested feature. Greenbone Community Edition is an open-source and free software, and the team works hard to maintain the product. Obviously it has been configured in specific way and has limitations. However, as Bjorn mentioned above, the source code is always there for your to modify to achieve the edge case goals you have. I hope that helps :slight_smile: