Since I don’t do it very often, I always forget how to copy an option profile in Qualys. So here’s how, even if I’m the only one who ever can’t remember.
Sometimes I need to make a copy of an option profile so I can make a change to it without building a new one from scratch.
Don’t look in the Actions menu
I always want to click the checkbox next to the option profile, then click Actions > Copy. Except the option doesn’t exist there, so you can’t copy an option profile that way. Instead, you have to open the option profile you want to copy, then click Save As. Enter a name for the profile, click OK, and then Qualys will make a copy of the profile for you to work with.
Then you have to back out of the profile, open the new copy, and edit the copy.
I think if they’d put a copy option in the actions menu, it would be quicker. But complaining about these kinds of things usually doesn’t do much good. I don’t copy option profiles more than once or twice a year, and probably no one else does either. And that’s probably why the method to copy option profiles remains buried inside the profile itself.
I know this is far more obvious than, say, how to search by MAC address. But I figure if I have trouble remembering this, someone else has trouble that one time of year they need to build an option profile based on an existing one too.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.