What is a connector? (API vs File-based)

A Connector is how Cisco Vulnerability Management can connect to tools that already exist in customer environments. Connectors fall into several general categories and can be related to vulnerability management, application scanning, ticketing, and more. By setting up a connector in your environment, you facilitate a connection between the tool and Cisco Vulnerability Management. The connectors come with a number of settings including what credentials to use, how often Cisco Vulnerability Management should import the data, and which reports/templates Cisco Vulnerability Management should import.

There are two types of connectors available:

• API Connectors
• File based connectors

API Connectors are direct integrations between Cisco Vulnerability Management and a tool. These integrations are more automated. For these connectors a number of fields can be set to determine what level of data Cisco Vulnerability Management will import and how often you would like that data imported. QualysGuard is an example of an API Connector.

File based connectors are more manual integrations. For file based connectors, Cisco Vulnerability Management supports the creation of a connector, but then a manual drag-and-drop is required to run the connector. Automation can be achieved through scripting, however you cannot use the Cisco Vulnerability Management UI to schedule a file-based connector run.
For example, HCL AppScan is a file based connector  (though Cisco Vulnerability Management does also offer an HCL AppScan Enterprise API connector)

Click here for a full list of tools with which Cisco Vulnerability Management can integrate.

If you don’t see a particular tool on the list and would like to be able to ingest data from that tool, you might be able to do so via the Data Importer. For more information on the Data Importer, refer to the information here.