Cayosoft Guardian Protector: Features and functionality

Cayosoft Guardian Protector is designed to give organizations an entry point into monitoring and protecting Active Directory (AD), Microsoft Entra ID, and Microsoft 365 environments. This edition provides essential visibility, alerting, and reporting capabilities at no cost, while introducing the key Guardian dashboards and workflows.

Although feature sets are limited compared to base editions, Guardian Protector helps you evaluate the product’s core functionality, understand your environment’s risks, and explore upgrade options when advanced protection and automation are required.

Cayosoft Guardian Protector helps organizations get started with monitoring and alerting for AD, Entra ID, and Microsoft 365. It provides essential dashboards, queries, and reports, along with visibility into system and threat alerts. For organizations that need advanced protection, automated remediation, unlimited retention, or Forest Recovery, upgrading to a base edition unlocks the full power of Cayosoft Guardian.

Common Features

In the Protector edition, Cayosoft Guardian provides access to the main dashboard with all available widgets. Widgets that are not part of the licensed tier remain visible but display promotional content. The edition also includes system alerts delivered through the top-bar notification icon, ensuring administrators are informed about important events in real time.

Threat Detection

Feature	Capability	Notes
Threat indicators	Top bar threat icon and notification panel	Included
Threat alerts	Grid with quick filter, properties, resolve/exclude/dismiss, export	Full use
Threat definitions	Grid, filters, download summary report, configure notifications, run rules manually, export	Automated remediation not included (future paid feature)
Jobs	Schedule detection, real-time, manual run	Included
Reports	Summary reports, export, send via Teams/Email	Included
Threat definition rules update	Tier 1: Automatic update	Manual updates require paid tiers

Change Monitoring

Feature	Capability	Notes
Alerts indicator	Notification icon, widgets, customization	Included
Change History	Tier 1: Grid, filters, built-in queries, export	Retention limited to 2 weeks
Saved Queries	Built-in and custom queries	Included
Change Alerts	Basic built-in alerts available	No custom alerts
Change Alerting Rules	Tier 1: Limited built-in rules	No editing, notifications, or rollback
Reports & Event Log	Create, filter, export reports	Included
AD Change Collection Jobs	Delta and continuous collection	Included
Entra ID/ Microsoft 365 Collection	Entra ID, Exchange Online, Teams, Intune, PIM roles, supplementary	Included
Entra Event Collection	Entra audit, unified log, Exchange Online log, Intune log; correlation to change history	Included
Internal Audit	N/A	Available in paid tiers only

Forest Recovery

Feature	Capability	Notes
FR Dashboard	Promotional page only	Upgrade required
DC Backup	N/A	Paid feature only
Recovery Plans	N/A	Paid feature only
Standby Forest	N/A	Paid feature only

System Management / Browsing

Feature	Capability	Notes
Active Directory browsing	Read-only browsing of all managed AD domains / partitions	Included
Entra ID & Microsoft 365 browsing	Read-only browsing of tenants and objects	Included

Configuration

Feature	Capability	Notes
Jobs & Job History	Full access	Included
Message Log	Full access	Included
System Alerts	Full access	Included
Managed Tenants	Add tenants, change credentials, read-only tenant access supported	Included
Managed Domains	Add domains/ partitions, change credentials, read-only AD access supported	Included
Credentials	Supported	Included
Communication Channels	Supported	Included
Entra Connect	Entra Connect servers visible	Included
Retention Rules	Tier 1: Built-in 2-week Change History retention, read-only	No editing
Reports	Available	Included

Settings

Feature	Capability	Notes
Delegation	Global Administrator role only	Role-based delegation for Threat Detection, Change Monitoring
License Management	Add, renew, and view license statistics	Included
Service Settings	Tier 1: Mostly read-only; limited write access for DB, health check, logging, network, reporting. Internal auditing disabled NOTE: Most settings are read-only; limited configuration control	Customers must stay on the latest version
System Database	Database grid and management available	Included

Feature comparison by edition

Feature Area	Protector	Base	Notes
Dashboard & System Alerts	✓	✓	Protector shows promo widgets for unavailable features
Threat Detection	Full dashboard, alerts, reports	✓	Automated remediation planned for future paid tiers
Change Monitoring	✓	✓	Free tier limited to 2-week retention No rollback
Forest Recovery	-	✓	N/A
Delegation & Roles	Global Admin only	Full role-based delegation	Role flexibility requires upgrade
Retention Rules	Fixed 2 weeks, read-only	Customizable	Protector cannot edit retention
Settings	Mostly read-only, limited configuration options	Full R/W	Protector must stay on latest version