DAST

Single vs. multi-machine architecture

• Last updated: September 9, 2026

• Read time: 1 Minute

The number of machines you need depends on whether you are evaluating Burp Suite DAST or running it in production.

Single machine architecture

You can run all of the components on a single machine, including the embedded database. This setup is only suitable for evaluation. We do not recommend it for production use, because it may degrade performance. For production use, connect to an external database and use a multi-machine architecture. The diagram below shows a single-machine architecture:

Multi-machine architecture

For production use, run scans on dedicated scanning machines and use your own external database for storage. This lets you scale the number of concurrent scans that you could potentially run to be indefinitely large and utilize any existing database infrastructure that you have. The diagram below shows a multiple-machine architecture, with an external database and separate scanning machines:

Note that the DAST server and the web server are always deployed on a single machine.

Requirements

For specific details about the system requirements for both of these options, see System requirements for standard instances.

Network and firewall settings

To ensure that Burp Suite DAST can work correctly, you need to configure your network to allow the various components to communicate with each other and your target applications. The network requirements vary depending on whether you intend to use a single-machine or multi-machine architecture. To learn more, see Configuring your network and firewall settings.