Direct Connect requirements

Review the requirements before you install and use Direct Connect.

Tanium dependencies

Make sure that your environment meets the following requirements.

Component	Requirement
Tanium™ Core Platform	7.3.314.4250 or later 7.4.1.1939 or later
Tanium™ Appliance	(Optional) If you are using a Tanium Appliance for your Zone Server, you must use Tanium operating system (TanOS) 1.5.2 or later. For TanOS 1.5.2 - 1.5.4, you must use the TanOS shell to install the Direct Connect Zone Proxy. For TanOS 1.5.5 and later, you can install the Direct Connect Zone Proxy through the Tanium Operations menu on the Zone Server appliance. For more information, see Appliance Deployment Guide: Install the Direct Connect Zone Proxy. To install the Direct Connect Zone Proxy on a Tanium Appliance with the All-in-One role, use the TanOS shell.
Tanium™ Client	Any supported version of Tanium Client. For the Tanium Client versions supported for each OS, see Tanium Client User Guide: Client version and host system requirements. If you use a client version that is not listed, certain product features might not be available, or stability issues can occur that can only be resolved by upgrading to one of the listed client versions.
Tanium™ products	Tanium™ Endpoint Configuration 1.2 or later (installed as part of Tanium™ Client Management 1.5 or later) Tanium Protect is optional, but if you install Direct Connect 1.3.x or later for use with Protect, you must use Protect 2.1.1 or later.
Tanium™ products	If you are using any of the following Tanium™ modules that use the Tanium™ Client Recorder Extension, you must use the specified versions: Tanium™ Integrity Monitor 1.7.0.0035 or later Tanium™ Map 1.1.1.0006 or later Tanium™ Threat Response 1.2.0.0037 or later Tanium™ Trace 2.9.0.0035 or later

Tanium Module Server

Direct Connect is installed and runs as a service on the Module Server. The impact on the Module Server is minimal and depends on usage.

Endpoints

Supported operating systems

The following endpoint operating systems are supported with Direct Connect.

Operating System	Version	Notes
Windows	Windows 7 Service Pack 1 or later Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 or later	Windows 7 Service Pack 1 requires Microsoft KB2758857.
macOS	Same as Tanium Client support. See Tanium Client User Guide: Host system requirements.
Linux	Same as Tanium Client support. See Tanium Client User Guide: Host system requirements.

Host and network security requirements

Specific ports and processes are needed to run Direct Connect.

Ports

The following ports, which communicate over HTTPS using TLS 1.2 (RSA 2048-bit), are required for Direct Connect.

The following port, which communicates over HTTPS using TLS 1.2 (RSA 2048-bit), is required for Direct Connect.

Source	Destination	Port	Protocol	Purpose
Tanium Client (internal)	Module Server	17475	TCP	Used by the Module Server for endpoint connections to internal clients.
Tanium Client (external)	Zone Server¹ Tanium as a Service	17486	TCP	Used by the Zone Server for endpoint connections to external clients. The default port number is 17486. If needed, you can specify a different port number when you configure the zone proxy.
Module Server	Zone Server¹	17487	TCP	Used by the Zone Server for Module Server connections. The default port number is 17487. If needed, you can specify a different port number when you configure the zone proxy.
Module Server	Zone Server¹	17488	TCP	Allows communication between the Zone Server and the Module Server. On TanOS, the Direct Connect Zone Proxy installer automatically opens port 17488 on the Zone Server. This port must be manually opened on Windows.
Tanium Server	Module Server	17477	TCP	Tanium Server initiates connections to the Module Server Tanium as a Service on port 17477.
¹ These ports are required only when you use a Zone Server.

Configure firewall policies to open ports for Tanium traffic with TCP-based rules instead of application identity-based rules. For example, on a Palo Alto Networks firewall, configure the rules with service objects or service groups instead of application objects or application groups.

Direct Connect supports the following cipher suites for encrypting information in TLS communication:

ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA384
ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA256
ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256

Security exclusions

If security software is in use in the environment to monitor and block unknown host system processes, your security administrator must create exclusions to allow the Tanium processes to run without interference. For a list of all security exclusions to define across Tanium, see Tanium Core Platform Deployment Reference Guide: Host system security exclusions.

Direct Connect security exclusions
Target Device	Notes	Process
Module Server		<Module Server>\services\endpoint-configuration-service\TaniumEndpointConfigService.exe
Windows endpoints		<Tanium Client>\TaniumClientExtensions.dll
		<Tanium Client>\TaniumClientExtensions.dll.sig
		<Tanium Client>\extensions\TaniumDEC.dll
		<Tanium Client>\extensions\TaniumDEC.dll.sig
	7.2.x clients¹	<Tanium Client>\Python27\TPython.exe
	7.4.x clients¹	<Tanium Client>\Python38\TPython.exe
	7.4.x clients	<Tanium Client>\Python38\*.dll
		<Tanium Client>\TaniumCX.exe
macOS endpoints		<Tanium Client>/libTaniumClientExtensions.dylib
		<Tanium Client>/libTaniumClientExtensions.dylib.sig
		<Tanium Client>/extensions/libTaniumDEC.dylib
		<Tanium Client>/extensions/libTaniumDEC.dylib.sig
	7.2.x clients	<Tanium Client>/python27/bin/pybin
	7.4.x clients	<Tanium Client>/python38/bin/pybin
		<Tanium Client>/TaniumCX
Linux endpoints		<Tanium Client>/libTaniumClientExtensions.so
		<Tanium Client>/libTaniumClientExtensions.so.sig
		<Tanium Client>/extensions/libTaniumDEC.so
		<Tanium Client>/extensions/libTaniumDEC.so.sig
	7.2.x clients	<Tanium Client>/python27/bin/pybin
	7.4.x clients	<Tanium Client>/python38/bin/pybin
		<Tanium Client>/TaniumCX
¹ = TPython requires SHA2 support to allow installation.

Direct Connect security exclusions
Target Device	Notes	Process
Windows endpoints		<Tanium Client>\TaniumClientExtensions.dll
		<Tanium Client>\TaniumClientExtensions.dll.sig
		<Tanium Client>\extensions\TaniumDEC.dll
		<Tanium Client>\extensions\TaniumDEC.dll.sig
	¹	<Tanium Client>\Python38\TPython.exe
		<Tanium Client>\Python38\*.dll
		<Tanium Client>\TaniumCX.exe
macOS endpoints		<Tanium Client>/libTaniumClientExtensions.dylib
		<Tanium Client>/libTaniumClientExtensions.dylib.sig
		<Tanium Client>/extensions/libTaniumDEC.dylib
		<Tanium Client>/extensions/libTaniumDEC.dylib.sig
		<Tanium Client>/python38/bin/pybin
		<Tanium Client>/TaniumCX
Linux endpoints		<Tanium Client>/libTaniumClientExtensions.so
		<Tanium Client>/libTaniumClientExtensions.so.sig
		<Tanium Client>/extensions/libTaniumDEC.so
		<Tanium Client>/extensions/libTaniumDEC.so.sig
		<Tanium Client>/python38/bin/pybin
		<Tanium Client>/TaniumCX
¹ = TPython requires SHA2 support to allow installation.

Zone proxy server requirements

If you want to use Direct Connect to connect to endpoints that route to the module server through a Zone Server, you must install and configure the Direct Connect Zone Proxy on that Zone Server. For more information, see Configure zone proxies.

For best results, do not use a load balancer in front of your Zone Server. If you must use a load balancer, it must be configured for persistent TCP connections and the port that you configure in the Direct Connect Zone Proxy for the Endpoint Inbound Port must be open on the load balancer. By default, this port is 17486.

User role requirements

The following tables list the role permissions required to use Direct Connect. For more information about role-based access control (RBAC), role permissions, and associated content sets, see Tanium Core Platform User Guide: Managing RBAC.

Tanium Direct Connect User Role Privileges
Permission	Direct Connect Administrator	Direct Connect User	Direct Connect Read Only User	Direct Connect Service Account³	Direct Connect Endpoint Configuration Approver²¹
Show Direct Connect¹ Allows users to access the Direct Connect workbench
Direct Connect Session Read Allows users to view endpoint connections
Direct Connect Session Write Allows users to create and manage endpoint connections
Direct Connect Settings Read Allows users to view Direct Connect settings
Direct Connect Settings Write Allows users to modify Direct Connect settings
Direct Connect Logs Read Allows users to view the Direct Connect logs
Direct Connect Cron Exec Allows performing service account work
Direct Connect Endpoint Configuration Approve Allows approval of Endpoint Configuration items for Direct Connect
¹ To install Direct Connect, you must have the Import Signed Content micro admin permission (Tanium Core Platform 7.4 or later) or the reserved role of Administrator. ²¹ This role provides module permissions for Tanium Endpoint Configuration. You can view which Endpoint Configuration permissions are granted to this role in the Tanium Console. For more information, see Tanium Endpoint Configuration User Guide: User role requirements. ³ If you installed Tanium Client Management, Endpoint Configuration is installed, and byBy default, configuration changes initiated by the module service account (such as tool deployment) require approval. You can bypass approval for module-generated configuration changes by applying the Endpoint Configuration Bypass Approval permission to this role and adding the relevant content sets. For more information, see Tanium Endpoint Configuration User Guide: User role requirements.

Provided Advanced user role permissions
Permission	Content Set for Permission	Direct Connect Administrator	Direct Connect Service Account	Direct Connect User	Direct Connect Endpoint Configuration Approver
Read Sensor	Reserved
Read Sensor	Base
Read Sensor	Direct Connect
Read Action	Direct Connect
Read Own Action	Direct Connect	¹	¹	¹	¹
Write Action	Direct Connect
Show Preview	Direct Connect	¹	¹	¹
Read Plugin	Direct Connect	¹	¹	¹
Execute Plugin	Direct Connect
Execute Plugin	Endpoint Configuration
Read Package	Direct Connect	¹	¹	¹
Write Package	Direct Connect
Read Saved Question	Reserved
Read Saved Question	Default
Read Saved Question	Direct Connect
¹ Denotes a provided permission.

For more information and descriptions of content sets and permissions, see the Tanium Core Platform User Guide: Users and user groups.