Patent ID: 7334166

Claim:
A method for utilizing server-side entry points in providing diagnostics on-demand, the method comprising: receiving a request to perform a diagnostic on a client computer; in response to the request, calling an entry point provided at a server computer for performing functions related to executing a diagnostic, the called entry point operative to provide a configuration file identifying to the client computer one or more additional entry points at the server computer; calling a one of the entry points identified in the configuration file to retrieve a data file from the server computer, the data file identifying to the client computer at least one diagnostics module available to the client computer; receiving the data file from the server computer; displaying a list of the at least one diagnostics module available to the client computer identified by the data file; in response to receiving a selection of one of the at least one available diagnostics module from the list, calling a one of the entry points identified in the configuration file to obtain authorization to download the selected one of the at least one available diagnostics module for testing a single hardware component of the client computer; in response to receiving the authorization to download the selected one of the at least one available diagnostics module, calling a one of the entry points identified in the configuration file to download the selected one of the at least one available diagnostics module; and installing the selected one of the at least one available diagnostics module once it has been downloaded.