Getting Started¶

Welcome to SentriKat! This guide will help you get up and running quickly.

SentriKat is available as a fully managed SaaS or as an on-premises deployment. Choose the option that best fits your needs.

SaaS (Fastest) SaaS¶

No installation required. Sign up at sentrikat.com, log in at app.sentrikat.com, deploy agents to your endpoints, and start scanning. Free during Early Access, no credit card.

New to SaaS? Follow the SaaS Quick Guides, 8 step-by-step guides from sign-up to team setup.

On-Premises On-Prem¶

For organizations that want to run SentriKat on their own servers. Air-gapped operation is part of Professional.

Prerequisites¶

Before installing SentriKat on-premises, ensure you have:

• Docker 20.10 or later
• Docker Compose v2.0 or later
• 4 GB RAM minimum (8 GB recommended)
• 20 GB disk space (more for database growth)

Installation Options¶

Quick Start¶

1. Download from the Customer Portal¶

Download the latest release package from the SentriKat Customer Portal, then extract it:

tar -xzf sentrikat-<version>.tar.gz
cd sentrikat-<version>

# Load the Docker image shipped inside the bundle
docker load -i sentrikat-image-<version>.tar.gz

2. Configure Environment¶

# Copy the example environment file
cp .env.example .env

# Edit with your settings
nano .env

Key settings to configure (each one is documented in .env.example):

# Required
SECRET_KEY=your-random-secret-key  # Generate with: openssl rand -hex 32
ENCRYPTION_KEY=your-encryption-key  # Generate with: python3 -c "from cryptography.fernet import Fernet; print(Fernet.generate_key().decode())"

# Database
DB_PASSWORD=your-secure-password

# Application URLs
SERVER_NAME=sentrikat.yourdomain.com
SENTRIKAT_URL=https://sentrikat.yourdomain.com

See Configuration for the full list of required variables.

3. Start SentriKat¶

docker compose up -d

Database migrations run automatically at boot. There is no manual migration step.

4. Complete the Setup Wizard¶

Open your browser and navigate to:

• 1.4.0-beta and later: https://localhost/ (http:// sends you there). Until you put your own certificate in the certs folder, the browser warns that the certificate is not trusted: that is the self-signed certificate created at the first start.
• 1.3.0-beta and earlier: http://localhost:5000, or https://localhost if you set up a certificate

On first run, SentriKat starts a setup wizard: create your admin account, name your organization, seed the product catalog. The first exploited-vulnerability catalogue sync runs automatically when you finish.

Next Steps¶

1. Add your first products
2. Deploy agents to collect inventory
3. Configure alerts for notifications
4. Set up organizations for multi-tenant

Troubleshooting¶

Container won't start¶

Check the logs:

docker compose logs -f sentrikat

Database connection issues¶

Ensure PostgreSQL is running:

docker compose ps
docker compose logs sentrikat-db

Port already in use¶

On 1.4.0-beta and later, the browser, agents and scripts reach SentriKat through the bundled Nginx: ports 80 and 443 must be free. SentriKat also uses port 5000 on the server's own address (127.0.0.1).

On 1.3.0-beta and earlier, change the port in docker-compose.yml:

ports:
  - "8080:5000"  # 1.3.0-beta and earlier: use port 8080 instead

For more help, see our FAQ or contact SentriKat Support.