Start Here: Your Qualys Orientation

Before setting up Qualys, here’s a quick overview of what it does and how to use this guide

Who Is This Guide For?

This article is primarily for Administrators who own Qualys implementation: the security or IT professional responsible for configuring the platform, deploying sensors, and standing up VMDR and the other risk modules for their organization.

It assumes a working knowledge of vulnerability management, IT security, or compliance concepts, but no prior hands-on experience with Qualys itself, so both first-time administrators and those inheriting an existing subscription will find it useful.

If your role is primarily to consume reports and dashboards, for example, a SOC analyst, auditor, or executive stakeholder, you can skip ahead to the Reporting and Dashboards section; everyone responsible for initial setup should work through the guide from the beginning, since each stage builds on the platform access, tagging, and sensor deployment established earlier.

What Is Qualys?

Qualys is a cybersecurity platform built to help you measure, communicate, and eliminate cyber risk across your environment. The platform supports your security journey with purpose-built modules that work together using a shared data foundation.

Most organizations run multiple security tools. Qualys consolidates that fragmented picture. Qualys brings together data from platform applications and third-party integrations to provide a unified view of your assets, vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and threats. Organizations using Enterprise TruRisk Management (ETM) can further correlate this information to prioritize risk and track remediation outcomes across the business.

Here is what that means for your team:

• Unified visibility: One source of truth for assets, vulnerabilities, and threats.
• Risk-based prioritization: Common risk-based scoring helps your team focus on the exposures that present the greatest risk to the business.
• Automated remediation: Workflows reduce manual effort and shrink mean time to remediate (MTTR).
• Compliance efficiency: Out-of-the-box frameworks streamline audits and reduce fatigue.

Before You Begin: Prerequisites Checklist

• POD assignment: Confirm your POD (the dedicated Qualys platform where your data is hosted) URL with your Technical Account Manager (TAM).
• Super-user credentials: Secure your initial administrator login and store it safely.
• Deployment approach: Determine whether you plan to deploy Cloud Agents, Scanner Appliances, or both.

Where Do I Get Started?

Follow this simple sequence to move from access to value quickly:

1. Get access: Obtain your credentials from your existing primary user or your Technical Account Manager (TAM), then log in to the platform.
2. Establish program foundations: Define your asset tags, set asset criticality, and confirm your user roles before scaling.
3. Deploy data collection sensors: Deploy Cloud Agents, Scanner Appliances, or both. This step gets the sensors in place; the next step puts them to work.
4. Configure VMDR: VMDR is the foundation of your deployment; every other risk module draws on the asset and vulnerability data it collects, so establish this visibility. Use Cloud Agents, Scanner Appliances, or both to run an initial discovery and vulnerability assessment and establish your first remediation workflow.
5. Set up training (recommended): Create an account on the Qualys Training Portal and begin with the Onboarding learning path. Your training credentials are a separate login from your platform login.

Two Logins, Two Purposes: Your Qualys Training Portal credentials are separate from your platform login. Register a distinct account at Qualys Training Portal. Mixing the two is the most common first-day support ticket, so note the difference now.

Why VMDR First? VMDR is the foundation of your deployment. Every other risk module draws on the asset and vulnerability data VMDR collects. Establish foundational visibility first, then expand into other modules deliberately rather than activating everything at once.

Build Your Skills Early

Onboarding is not purely technical. Adoption and user readiness determine how fast you reach value. Invest in enablement from day one.

Explore the Qualys Training Portal at Qualys Training & Certification Hub

• Onboarding learning paths: Module-specific courses for VMDR, Policy Audit, TotalCloud, Web Application Scanning (WAS), and Container Security. This is the ideal starting point for new administrators.
• Self-paced, on-demand videos: More than 100 hours of recorded training covering every platform module. Learn on your own schedule.
• Instructor-led training (ILT): Live virtual and on-site sessions. The schedule rotates quarterly, so check the portal regularly for new dates.
• Advanced certification: Qualys Certified Specialist (QCS) and Qualys Certified Expert (QCE) programs for platform experts.