Troubleshooting Qualys: Test Connectivity Quickly with PowerShell

Introduction

Ensuring that your system can connect to the Qualys Cloud Platform is critical for the smooth functioning of Qualys Agents. This article provides a quick and efficient one-liner PowerShell command to verify connectivity to the required Qualys endpoint.

The PowerShell Command

Use the following one-liner PowerShell commands to test connectivity to a Qualys endpoint:

You can replace URL based upon your Qualys SOC details.

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://qualysguard.qg1.apps.qualys.co.uk/" -UseBasicParsing -TimeoutSec 10

Test-Connection -ComputerName "qualysguard.qg1.apps.qualys.co.uk" -Count 10

How It Works

• Invoke-WebRequest: Sends an HTTP request to the specified URL to check if the endpoint is reachable.
• -Uri: The Qualys endpoint URL. Replace this with the appropriate URL for your region (e.g., https://qualysapi.qg2.apps.qualys.com).
• -UseBasicParsing: Ensures the command works on all systems without relying on Internet Explorer components.
• -TimeoutSec 10: Sets a timeout of 10 seconds to prevent the command from hanging indefinitely.

Steps to Use the Command

1. Open PowerShell:
2. Press Win + R, type powershell, and hit Enter.
3. Run the Command:
4. Copy and paste the command into the PowerShell console and hit Enter.
5. Analyze the Results:

• If the endpoint is reachable, you’ll receive an HTTP response with a status code like 200 OK.
• If there’s an issue, PowerShell will display an error message, such as “Unable to connect to the remote server.”

Example Outputs

Successful Connection

StatusCode        : 200
StatusDescription : OK
Content           : (HTML content of the endpoint)
RawContent        : (Full raw response data)

Failed Connection

Invoke-WebRequest : Unable to connect to the remote server

When to Use This Command

• During Initial Setup: To confirm that the network allows communication to Qualys endpoints.
• Troubleshooting: When agents fail to communicate with the platform.
• Regular Checks: As part of periodic health checks for your Qualys deployment.