Establishing an initial configuration of a hardware inventory

A computer system for performing a method for automatically integrating a hardware inventory within a fabric of a data center from various specifications, the computer system comprising one or more servers coupled to computer storage media, the computer storage media having stored thereon a plurality of computer software components executable by the one or more servers, the computer software components comprising:

• a first build-out mechanism software component that generates a cluster-configuration file using externally contributed customer-specified specifications and internally generated platform-specific specifications that are based, in part, on the customer-specified specifications, wherein generating the cluster-configuration file comprises:
• using the customer-specified specifications and the platform-specific specifications to select the hardware inventory from a set of predefined hardware clusters, wherein the hardware inventory comprises physical hardware assets comprising one or more of newly added hardware within the data center, a previously existing set of hardware within the data center, or remote hardware that communicates with the data center;
• deriving the cluster-configuration file from data held within a stock-keeping unit (SKU) that describes the selected hardware inventory;
• and
• populating the cluster-configuration file with abstract symbolic representations that serve as placeholders within the cluster-configuration file for expected values that are missing, wherein the abstract symbolic representations act to solicit network-topology values from the customer or via an automated mechanism, wherein the cluster-configuration file is employed to validate the identified hardware inventory upon delivery of the hardware inventory, wherein a discovered topology of the hardware inventory is cross-referenced with an expected physical topology in the cluster-configuration file, wherein the discovered topology comprises at least in part device locations and an existing wiring pattern of devices within a rack, and wherein the expected physical topology in the cluster-configuration file comprises at least in part expected device locations and an expected wiring pattern of the devices within the rack;
• providing the abstract symbolic representations in the cluster-configuration file to the customer or the automated mechanism for resolution of the abstract symbolic representations;
• and
• a second build-out mechanism software component that generates, from the network-topology values and information extracted from the cluster-configuration file, a template file by using a naming-convention mapping to convert the abstract symbolic representations into concrete values of network-topology configuration settings, wherein the template file is used to allocate the physical hardware assets and logical assets of the hardware inventory, wherein at least a portion of the physical hardware assets and logical assets are predefined in one or more predefined hardware clusters, the predefined hardware clusters represent predetermined compatible configurations of the physical hardware assets and logical assets,
• wherein the second build-out mechanism further utilizes the template file to configure the physical hardware assets with configuration setting values based at least in part on the updated cluster-configuration file, and
• wherein the configuring integrates the physical hardware assets into the fabric of the data center;
• and
• wherein the second build-out mechanism further controls interaction between the integrated physical hardware assets and existing hardware by way of the configuring.

A computerized method for automatically integrating an inventory of hardware, selected based on specifications of a customer, within a fabric of a data center, the method comprising:

• receiving a dependency schema that describes additional storage or computing capacity for use by the customer, wherein the dependency schema specifies logical artifacts and device parameters for requisitioning the additional capacity;
• automatically selecting stock-keeping units (SKUs) from a set of SKUs based on, in part, information received within the dependency schema, wherein the SKUs identify predefined hardware clusters respectively, that are capable of being integrated within a cloud-computing network, the predefined hardware clusters represent predetermined compatible configurations of hardware assets and logical assets, and wherein automatically selecting comprises:
• using the logical artifacts to designate a network configuration that is supported by one or more of the predefined hardware clusters;
• using the device parameters to designate network resources that are included within the one or more of the predefined hardware clusters;
• and
• selecting a SKU from the set of SKUs that identifies a hardware inventory from the one or more predefined hardware clusters, wherein the hardware inventory supports the network configuration and includes the network resources, and wherein the identified hardware inventory comprises physical hardware assets, wherein the physical hardware assets comprise one or more of newly added hardware within the data center, a previously existing set of hardware within the data center, or remote hardware that communicates with the datacenter;
• deriving a cluster-configuration file from the SKU, wherein the cluster-configuration file includes abstract symbolic representations that solicit feedback from a build-out operator, wherein the abstract symbolic representations serve as placeholders within the cluster-configuration file for expected network-topology values that are missing;
• sending the cluster-configuration file to the build-out operator or an automated mechanism for resolution of the abstract symbolic representations;
• receiving feedback from the build-out operator or the automated mechanism that addresses the abstract symbolic representations indicating missing network-topology values, wherein the feedback comprises network-topology values;
• updating the cluster-configuration file by incorporating the network-topology values thereto;
• using the updated cluster-configuration, validating the identified hardware inventory upon delivery of the hardware inventory based on cross-referencing, a discovered topology of the hardware inventory with an expected topology in the updated cluster-configuration file, wherein the discovered topology comprises at least in part device locations and wiring within a rack;
• and
• configuring the physical hardware assets with configuration setting values based at least in part on the updated cluster-configuration file, wherein the configuring integrates the physical hardware assets into the fabric of the data center;
• and
• controlling interaction between the integrated physical hardware assets and existing hardware by way of the configuring.