Import and export custom definitions

The Patch and Compliance tool provides a way for you to import and export custom definitions and their detection rules. Import and export is useful if you want to share custom definitions with other core servers. Exporting makes it possible for you to save a backup copy for a definition that you want to remove temporarily from the core database.

Custom definitions are exported and imported as XML-formatted files. You can't import and export known industry vulnerability definitions.

You can also use the export/import feature to export a definition, manually edit the exported file as a template and save multiple variations of the definition, and then import the new definitions. If the definition is complex, this procedure can be faster and easier than creating multiple definitions in the console.

NOTE: Restoring exported custom definitions
If you delete a custom definition that had previously been exported as an XML file, you can restore that definition by importing it back into the database via the Patch and Compliance tool.

To export custom definitions

1.From a Custom Definitions list, select one or more custom definitions.

2.Click the Export toolbar button. (Or, right-click the selected definitions, and then click Export.)

3.Enter the path to the folder where you want to export the definitions as an individual XML file.

4.Click Save.

To import custom definitions

1.In Patch and Compliance, click the Import Custom Definitions toolbar button.

2.Locate and select one or more definitions (in the XML file you want to import), and then click Open. If the definition already exists in the core database, you're prompted to confirm whether you want to overwrite it. Check the status window to see whether the definition is successfully imported.