Automated access to racks in a colocation data center

A method comprising:

• mounting a top-of-rack (TOR) switch in a rack;
• connecting the TOR switch to a network fabric of a first data center;
• controlling, using a lock, physical access to the rack;
• receiving, from a computing device, a request to access the rack, wherein the request includes authentication credentials;
• in response to receiving the request to access the rack, authenticating the computing device;
• and
• in response to authenticating the computing device, configuring the lock to provide the physical access to the rack.

A system comprising:

• at least one processing device;
• and
• memory containing instructions configured to instruct the at least one processing device to:
• mount a top-of-rack (TOR) switch in a rack of a data center;
• connect the TOR switch to a network fabric of the data center;
• receive, over a network, a request to configure the TOR switch for connecting a server to the network fabric;
• and
• in response to receiving the request, configure the TOR switch to connect the server to one or more ports of the TOR switch.