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The IP-Hosts scan module searches address ranges for active systems, without credentials. Use it for a first overview of an unknown network and to find systems no other scan has captured. It requires a connected gateway.

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Captured data

The scan is based on NMAP. IP-Hosts always scans intensively: besides address, name and subnet mask, it tries to determine the network adapter’s vendor (from the MAC address), operating system, uptime and last boot. NMAP estimates this information from the systems’ responses and states an accuracy in percent.

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Setting up the job

The wizard follows the standard path Basics › Targets › Schedule › Summary—see Creating a Scan Job. In the Targets step each row carries only the IP/Hostname column—the scan needs no credentials. The column takes a single address, a range, a network in CIDR notation (e.g. /24) or a hostname, so a whole network fits into one row.

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Prerequisites

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Ports and protocols

The port scan checks different ports depending on the target, in the extreme case all of them.

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Permissions

  • No rights are needed on the target systems.
  • On the gateway computer, installing the Npcap driver requires local administrator rights.
  • The antivirus software on the gateway computer allows NMAP to be called. Some vendors block NMAP when it is started from other software.

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Network requirements

  • The Npcap driver is installed on the gateway computer. The gateway setup offers it, preselected. Without Npcap, extended information such as the operating system cannot be determined.
  • The address ranges to be scanned are known.
Npcap hooks into the network stack. Do not install the driver on a domain controller, Exchange server or a comparably critical system without checking first. It can compete with other packet filters, including other Npcap versions: Wireshark and PRTG bring Npcap or WinPcap with options of their own, and then both Wireshark and the scan may return wrong results.

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Common issues

After it is created, the job appears among the jobs; how you watch and adjust it is in Managing Jobs. Which scan modules exist for the systems found is listed under Scan Modules.