Uploading and Importing Data
Xylok presently has support for the following types of imports:
- Xylok results files: These are the .xylok files produced when running Xylok scripts
- Xylok archives: Various parts of Xylok allow you to export an archive of Xylok data. These files may contain clients exports, single scans, AA data, or more.
- Nessus/ACAS/Security Center xccdf
- SCAP xml
- STIG Viewer CKL file
- Zip, .tar.gz, .tar.bz2, and .tar.xz: These archive formats will be extracted and imported separately, allowing you to efficiently upload dozens of files quickly. File and folders may be freely nested inside the archive and files which are not understood inside the archive will not prevent valid files from being imported.
- .docx, .pdf, .xlsx: Organization documentation is often in one or more of these formats, and can be uploaded and stored in Xylok. During the upload process, Xylok will parse and save the text content to be used in various search functions.
There are two common methods of manual importing data, which are the focus of this article. If you’re looking to automate your technical data process, Xylok has tools designed for more automated approaches.
For some types of files (mostly third-party ones), there must be a client selected. Go to Client -> Client List and choose the applicable client before uploading your data.
All Xylok pages have a location in the sidebar to drop files onto. Drag one or more files from your local system’s file manager and drop them onto the sidebar to start uploading. Uploads start as soon as your drop your files and Xylok will warn you if you try to navigate away before the uploads finish.
Once the upload finishes, Xylok will start working on each file in the background and you can navigate around freely. You can monitor the background processing using the task monitor, just below where you dropped your files.
Uploading can also be done with a traditional file upload browse button. Simply click on the “Drop file to upload” link and you will be taken to an upload page. Alternatively, use the menu to go to Assessment-> Import Data.
From this page, choose your files using the Choose Files button (some web browsers will say “Browse…”) and click the Upload button. After your files finish uploading, you’ll be taken to the task monitor page.
No matter how you upload your files, Xylok hands them off to be processed in the background. During this process, every Xylok page will show that processing is still occurring in the sidebar:
Clicking that link will take you to the full task monitor page, which shows all in-progress, successful, and failed tasks.
In general, there’s no need to stay on this task monitor page–the sidebar task monitor will keep you informed of the progress.
For more information about task monitoring, read the dedicated Task Monitoring article.
For simple imports, once it completes the running task will display a View link in the far-left column that will take you to the newly imported item (i.e., the new scan). If an error occurs, the task will be moved to the “Failed” section of the task monitor page and a View link there will allow you to view more details about the issue.
If your import does fail, the message typically gives more information about the cause. Common issues include:
- Duplicate scans: Xylok will only import a given scan one time, which it determines based on the result file’s internal date and the machine it’s associated with.
- “Not all questions have been answered”: The scan you’re imported has questions that need to be answered first. Go to the client, location, or machine and answer all the questions there.