Microsoft Azure Guest Diagnostic Settings
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For Agents
Define and manage reusable guest diagnostic configurations — the lists of event logs, perf counters, and ETW providers Azure Monitor should collect from inside VMs.
Use for: I need to create a reusable diagnostic profile that collects Windows Security event logs, List all guest diagnostic settings in the resource group 'monitoring-rg', Retrieve the perf counter list defined in the 'baseline' diagnostic settings, Update the diagnostic settings 'baseline' to add CPU and disk counters
Not supported: Does not attach settings to specific VMs, collect platform logs, or query telemetry data — use for managing the reusable settings resource only.
Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for Guest Diagnostic Settings, keeping it validated and agent-ready. The Azure Guest Diagnostic Settings API manages reusable diagnostic configurations that describe which Windows event logs, performance counters, and ETW traces should be collected from inside Azure VMs and Arc-managed servers. Operators define a setting once and then attach it to many guests via the companion association API. The API runs against Azure Resource Manager with Azure AD OAuth2 and exposes six list, get, create-or-update, update, and delete operations on the microsoft.insights provider.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the Guest Diagnostic Settings to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Guest Diagnostic Settings, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
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Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with Guest Diagnostic Settings API.
Define a reusable guest diagnostic settings resource specifying event logs and perf counters to collect
List guest diagnostic settings across a subscription or filter by resource group
Retrieve the full configuration of a single guest diagnostic settings resource
Update tags or properties of an existing guest diagnostic settings resource
Delete obsolete guest diagnostic settings to retire a collection profile
Standardise telemetry collection profiles across many VMs from a single ARM resource
Use Cases
Patterns agents use Guest Diagnostic Settings API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Standardise VM telemetry across an environment
Define one canonical guest diagnostic settings resource that lists the event logs and perf counters needed for compliance and operations, then attach it to every VM via the association API. Centralises the collection profile so changing what gets collected is a single PATCH instead of touching each VM. Suitable for fleets where consistent telemetry is a regulatory requirement.
Create a guestDiagnosticSettings named 'baseline' in resource group 'monitoring-rg' that collects Windows Security event level Warning and CPU + disk perf counters.
Audit existing diagnostic profiles
Walk every guest diagnostic settings resource in a subscription to verify that all collection profiles include required logs and counters. The List endpoint returns the full configuration in one call so an auditor can compare against policy without inspecting each VM. Useful before a compliance review.
List all guestDiagnosticSettings in subscription 'sub-prod' and return any that do not include the Security event log.
Retire deprecated collection profiles
Delete a guest diagnostic settings resource once all VMs have been migrated to a newer profile. Removes ARM-level configuration without touching the underlying VMs, so the operation is non-disruptive. Useful at the end of a telemetry migration project.
Delete the guestDiagnosticSettings 'preview-diag' from resource group 'monitoring-rg' once no associations reference it.
AI agent telemetry policy management
An ops agent maintains diagnostic profiles via Jentic, calling create-or-update to add new perf counters when a new monitoring requirement lands. Jentic resolves the agent's natural-language intent to the correct PUT or PATCH operation and injects the bearer token at execution. The agent never sees raw Azure credentials.
Use Jentic to search for 'update azure guest diagnostic settings', load guestDiagnosticsSettings_Update, and add 'Memory\Available MBytes' to the 'baseline' profile.
Key Endpoints
6 endpoints — jentic publishes the only available openapi specification for guest diagnostic settings, keeping it validated and agent-ready.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
GET
/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/providers/microsoft.insights/guestDiagnosticSettings
List all guest diagnostic settings in a subscription
GET
/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourcegroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/microsoft.insights/guestDiagnosticSettings/{diagnosticSettingsName}
Get a specific guest diagnostic settings resource
PUT
/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourcegroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/microsoft.insights/guestDiagnosticSettings/{diagnosticSettingsName}
Create or update a guest diagnostic settings resource
PATCH
/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourcegroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/microsoft.insights/guestDiagnosticSettings/{diagnosticSettingsName}
Patch tags or properties on a guest diagnostic settings resource
DELETE
/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourcegroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/microsoft.insights/guestDiagnosticSettings/{diagnosticSettingsName}
Delete a guest diagnostic settings resource
GET
/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/providers/microsoft.insights/guestDiagnosticSettings
List all guest diagnostic settings in a subscription
GET
/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourcegroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/microsoft.insights/guestDiagnosticSettings/{diagnosticSettingsName}
Get a specific guest diagnostic settings resource
PUT
/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourcegroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/microsoft.insights/guestDiagnosticSettings/{diagnosticSettingsName}
Create or update a guest diagnostic settings resource
PATCH
/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourcegroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/microsoft.insights/guestDiagnosticSettings/{diagnosticSettingsName}
Patch tags or properties on a guest diagnostic settings resource
DELETE
/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourcegroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/microsoft.insights/guestDiagnosticSettings/{diagnosticSettingsName}
Delete a guest diagnostic settings resource
Why Jentic?
Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.
Credential isolation
Azure service principal credentials are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault. Agents receive a scoped Azure AD bearer token at execution time, never the raw client secret.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search Jentic for 'manage azure guest diagnostic settings' and Jentic returns the matching guestDiagnosticsSettings operation with its input schema, so the agent can call the right ARM endpoint without reading Azure docs.
Time to first call
Direct ARM integration: 1-2 days for AAD setup and async polling. Through Jentic: under 30 minutes — search, load schema, execute.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using Guest Diagnostic Settings API through Jentic.
Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for Guest Diagnostic Settings?
Microsoft Azure does not publish a stand-alone OpenAPI specification for the Guest Diagnostic Settings API. Jentic generates and maintains this spec from the microsoft.insights ARM surface so that AI agents and developers can call Guest Diagnostic Settings via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started at https://app.jentic.com/sign-up.
What authentication does the Guest Diagnostic Settings API use?
The API uses Azure AD OAuth2 against management.azure.com, declared as the azure_auth security scheme. Through Jentic, your service principal credentials sit in the encrypted vault and are exchanged for a scoped bearer token at execution time.
Does this API attach a diagnostic profile to a VM?
No. This API only defines the reusable settings resource itself — the catalogue of event logs and perf counters. To attach a setting to a specific VM or scope, use the companion Guest Diagnostic Settings Association API at azure.com/guest-diagnostic-settings-association.
What are the rate limits?
Azure Resource Manager throttles apply at the subscription level — typically around 12,000 reads and 1,200 writes per hour. Get and List on guestDiagnosticSettings are read operations and unlikely to be throttled in normal use.
How do I create a baseline diagnostic profile through Jentic?
Run jentic.search('create azure guest diagnostic settings'), load the guestDiagnosticsSettings_CreateOrUpdate schema, and execute it with the subscription ID, resource group, settings name, and a body listing the eventLogs and performanceCounters to collect.
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