PREREQUISITES

The following are the minimum requirements for running SARA:

1.  UNIX/Linux Platform with perl 5.0.3 (or greater), cc (or gcc)
2.  A Web Browser (e.g., Netscape, Lynx, Mosaic)
3.  Normal utilities, such a gunzip, make, etc.

The following is highly recommended if you are scanning MS Windows
platforms:

    samba-tng (from samba-tng.org).  See README.SMB for details

GETTING THE LATEST VERSION

The latest version can always be found by referring to 
http://www-arc.com/sara.  We suggest that you join the
sara-l list server while you are at it.

UNPACKING AND BUILDING

The SARA distribution is provided in a compressed tar format.
The distribution file is in the format sara-x.x.x.tgz where
x.x.x is the version number.  Unpack the distribution with the 
following commands.  Note that the SARA distribution will be
installed in the sara-x.x.x directory which will normally be 
a subdirectory to the directory where the *tar.gz file was loaded.


        gunzip sara-x.x.x.tgz
        tar xvf sara-x.x.x.tar

As of SARA 3.5.6, we added the GNU autoconf configure method for
building SARA.  This method is initiated by typing:

        ./configure
        make

Starting with sara 5.1.1, there is a make install.  The SARA distribution is installed in /usr/local/sara unless a different directory prefix is used.  Check ./configure --help.

A special version of the ssh client (sara ssh [sssh]) will be built
in the default configuration.  However, if ssl and zlib are not installed, 
(prerequisites for ssh), the sssh build will be ignored.

If you want to use sara ssh (sssh) to perform password quessing, you
will need openssl and zlib. We noted that some installations of sparcv9, that
the openssl distribution does not work.  In that case, /usr/local/ssl should be
renamed and a fresh copy of openssl from openssl.org should be installed.
If you want to build without sara ssh support, do the following instead

	./configure --with-ssh=no
	make

If you have problems building freetds or sqlat, you can disable the
build process (you lose definitive SA password checking for MSSQL)
by typing
        ./configure --with-sqlat=no
        make

An optional offline facility called rdesktop is available, starting with
SARA 5.3.0.  It is not loaded by default as it requires many pre-requisites.  
For instance, rdesktop must have access to an accepting X server.  To build 
SARA with rdesktop offline support, do the following:

        ./configure --with-rdp=yes
        make

You will run rdesktop after a standard SARA scan by typing 

        bin/rdesktop -d <database>

This will update the database's facts file.  Reports will have to be regenerated
in the normal way.

The build process may protest if it cannot find all of the OS' system utilities.
The programs nmblookup and smbclient are optional but SMB file/print
sharing tests will not be possible. Other 'protests' indicate that certain
SARA core tests will not be possible (e.g., showmount missing will limit
SARA's ability to detect open exports).

If SARA does not find the WWW browser that you want to use, edit the
config/paths.pl file and change the line

       $MOSAIC="program_name";


RUNNING SARA

SARA supports four different operational modes:

1.  Local interactive execution:

    The mode is initiated by merely typing './sara'.  It will summons
    your Web browser on the SARA hosted machine (under normal 
    installations, this would be Netscape Communicator).  The operational
    functions can be initiated by clicking on the blue ball to the left
    of the command.  Refer to the 'Documentation' function for details
    on how to operate SARA in this mode.

    If you are using an older version of Netscape (e.g., 4.5.x or less),
    you may encounter problems when initiating many of the functions.
    Specifically, SARA may present a Open dialog box rather than the
    expected Web page.  For proper operation, Netscape must be configured
    to interpret SARA screens (often ending in .pl extensions) as html
    documents.  The Documentation (FAQ) provides the steps to properly
    configure Netscape for proper SARA operation.

    When you want to close SARA in interactive mode, simply close the web 
    browser.

2.  Command line execution:

    SARA can be directed to perform scans through the UNIX/Linux command
    line.  Refer to the Documentation or the SARA manual page (sara.8)
    for all of the command line options.  You can escape out of SARA with 
    a Ctl-C but you will lose all data on the current scan.

3.  Remote interactive execution:

    SARA can be controlled from a remote UNIX/Linux workstation.  This
    should be configured by an experienced UNIX/Linux administrator. 
    Details on this mode are available on the initial SARA page when you
    initiate SARA in interactive mode.

4.  SARA Self Scan (SSS)

    SARA can be configured as web server extension that provides an 
    organization the ability to self test their systems.  Check out
    sss/README for the details

UN-INSTALLING

If you want to remove sara from your machine, you will need to do three things:

    1.  type rm -rf /usr/local/sara (assumng you did a make install)
    2.  type rm -rf <where you put it>/sara-x.x.x
    3.  type rm -rf <where you put it>/sara-x.x.x.tar

SARA does nothing to your system other than in the diretories listed 
above.  SARA does not change libraries, configuration files, or any 
other data outside the defined sara directories.  Un-installing SARA 
will not affect your system. Remember that all of your scan data will 
be lost.

PROBLEMS

If you experience problems, please subscribe (http://www-arc.com/sara) to
the sara-l list server and post your problem. We continually monitor
this site.
     
