Overview

The Nucleus FlexConnect Framework describes a flexible file format for uploading data from any asset, vulnerability and/or compliance source. Such sources could include as yet currently unsupported connectors, in-house developed tools, or manually generated reports (e.g. penetration test reports) in to Nucleus via the UI or API.

By transforming your raw asset or scan data into a FlexConnect file and uploading it to a Nucleus project, assets, vulnerabilities and compliance findings from these sources can be displayed alongside data from your other connectors.

This article explains how to understand and construct files in the FlexConnect Framework. After constructing your files, you can then upload them via the UI (Data Ingest > Import via File) or directly via the API.

Scale Considerations

When integrating FlexConnect for uploading scan data into Nucleus, it’s crucial to consider the scale of file ingestion due to inherent overheads in scan ingestion. FlexConnect operates significantly more efficiently when handling a single file or a small number of files with large volumes of data, compared to processing numerous smaller files. For example, ingesting a single file containing 1,000 assets, each with 100 findings, will process much faster than ingesting 1,000 individual files, each containing one asset with 100 findings. The latter scenario could take hours to complete due to the cumulative overhead associated with processing each file, whereas the former could take just minutes or seconds, optimizing performance and resource utilization.

We strongly encourage customers to upload bulked files wherever possible to maximize efficiency and reduce ingestion time.

Schemas

Please check out the various schemas for Nucleus data models to construct your FlexConnect:

• File Schema

• Assets Overview

• Vulnerability Findings

• Compliance Findings

• Software