Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A computer-implemented component diagnostic method, comprising:including, in each message generated by each of a plurality of components, a unique component identifier that identifies the generating component; andproviding, for each of the components, a diagnostic provider interface, the diagnostic provider interface for each component comprising at least one operation implemented by that component, the operation being invocable by a callback to the component, wherein the unique component identifiers enable identifying that one of the components to which each callback is to be routed. 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising executing at least one of the operations provided in the diagnostic provider interface of a selected one of the components in response to an invocation by a callback received at the selected component. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the received callback comprises a request for further information from the selected component. 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the requested further information comprises current state information of the selected component. 5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the requested further information comprises current configuration information of the selected component. 6. The method according to claim 2, wherein the received callback comprises one of a request for the selected component to provide a list of diagnostic tests available for execution by the selected component or a request for execution of at least one diagnostic test by the selected component. 7. The method according to claim 2, wherein the received callback is generated responsive to evaluation of at least one of the messages generated by the selected component. 8. The method according to claim 2, wherein the received callback is generated responsive to evaluation of at least one of the messages generated by at least one of the components, the at least one of the components being distinct from the selected component. 9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising including, in each alert generated by each of the components, the unique component identifier for identifying the generating component. 10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising executing at least one of the operations provided in the diagnostic provider interface of a selected one of the components in response to an invocation by a callback received at the selected component, wherein the received callback is generated in response to evaluation of at least one of the alerts generated by the selected component. 11. The method according to claim 9, further comprising executing at least one of the operations provided in the diagnostic provider interface of a selected one of the components in response to an invocation by a callback received at the selected component, wherein the received callback is generated in response to evaluation of at least one of the alerts generated by at least one of the components, the at least one of the components being distinct from the selected component. 12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising registering the unique component identifier during an initialization phase, wherein each unique component identifier includes information indicating existence of the diagnostic interface provided for each respective component. 13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising registering a diagnostic interface specification for each component. 14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the diagnostic interface specification supported by each component specifies a method signature for each of the invocable operations implemented by that component. 15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the method signature for at least one of the invocable operations comprises a (parameter name, parameter type) pair for each parameter of that invocable operation. 16. The method according to claim 13, wherein the diagnostic interface provided for each component specifies at least one of at least one state attribute for which state information can be dumped by that component, at least one configuration attribute for which configuration information can be dumped by that component, and at least one diagnostic test that can be carried out by that component. 17. The method according to claim 1, further comprising generating, for each of the components, the unique component identifier during an initialization of the component. 18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the unique component identifier for each component is generated as a unique object name of an instance of the component. 19. The method according to claim 17, wherein the unique component identifier for each component is generated using topology information of the component. 20. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:including, in each message generated for at least one resource which is accessible from a selected one of the components, the unique component identifier that identifies the selected component; andproviding, in the diagnostic provider interface for the selected component, at least one operation implemented by the selected component, the operation being invocable by a callback to the selected component to interact with each of the at least one resources. 21. The method according to claim 20, further comprising executing, for a selected one of the resources which is accessible from the selected component, at least one of the operations provided in the diagnostic provider interface of the selected component in response to an invocation by a callback received at the selected component to interact with the selected resource. 22. The method according to claim 2, wherein the callback for each of the at least one operations uses the unique component identifier of the selected component. 23. A programmatic method of performing component diagnostics, comprising:including, in each message generated by each of a plurality of components, a unique component identifier that identifies the generating component;providing, for each of the components, a diagnostic provider interface for that component, the diagnostic provider interface for each component comprising at least one invocable operation implemented by that component, the operation being invocable by a callback to the component; andusing the unique component identifiers to route callbacks to selected ones of the components, wherein each of the callbacks comprises invoking one of the at least one invocable operations implemented by the selected one of the components. 24. A programmatic method of component diagnosis, comprising:evaluating at least one message generated by a component, wherein the evaluated message comprises a unique component identifier that identifies the generating component;identifying an operation implemented by the component in a diagnostic provider interface; andusing the unique component identifier from the at least one evaluated message in an invocation that calls back to the component to request execution of the identified operation, thereby enabling routing of the invocation to the component. 25. The method according to claim 24, wherein the operation is identified by a registry in which the component registers each of at least one operation implemented in its diagnostic provider interface. 26. The method according to claim 24, wherein the operation comprises one of a request for the component to dump state information, a request for the component to dump configuration information, a request for the component to provide a list of diagnostic tests available for execution by the component, or a request for the component to execute at least one diagnostic test.