# Scanning for the first time with SARA

To "scan", in SARA-ese, means to probe or test a remote host's security. SARA has the ability to scan a great number of hosts on a network; fortunately or unfortunately, you may not have the authority or permission to scan all of the hosts. SARA should never be used to scan hosts that you haven't gotten explicit permission from the owner of the host that it is permissible to scan it.

Remember - you should run SARA as "root"!

Assuming that you have the authority to do so, it is very simple to start scanning:

1. From the control panel in the HTML interface, select Run SARA. It will prompt you with Primary target selection; type in the host that you're running SARA from if it already isn't in the prompt box.
2. Select Scan the target host only, or, if you would prefer and have the authorization and the time (it can take several minutes to scan a single host at the higher scan levels), select Scan all hosts in the primary (i.e. the target's) subnet.
3. Select a Normal scan to start out with. The more intensive the scan the more time it takes to complete.
4. Select Start the scan to commence the scanning.

That's it! If you have any problems, you should read the full documentation on using SARA for the first time.

You should now go to Analyzing the output to see how to get and to interpret the results of your scan.