Identifying physical locations of devices within an electronic system

A method of identifying physical locations of devices within an electronic system during a booting up procedure, the method comprising:

• booting up an electronic system by initiating a basic input/output system (BIOS) chip in the electronic system, wherein the BIOS chip instructs each of multiple fans to operate at a specific speed, and wherein the BIOS chip identifies a physical location of each of the multiple fans and wherein each of the multiple fans runs at a different unique fan speed during a predefined period of time during initialization of the system;
• activating, by executing instructions from the BIOS chip in a hardware system controller in the electronic system, each of the multiple fans in the electronic system at a different speed, where a physical location of wind output from each of the multiple fans is known to the hardware system controller;
• measuring, by anemometers coupled to multiple variable-positioned devices within the electronic system, airflow across each of the multiple variable-positioned devices that are cooled by the multiple fans;
• transmitting, from the anemometers to the hardware system controller, signals that describe the airflow across each of the multiple variable-positioned devices;
• and
• determining, by the hardware system controller in the electronic system, a physical location of said each of the multiple variable-positioned devices within the electronic system according to measured airflow, from a particular fan at a known physical location, across each of the multiple variable-positioned devices.

A computer program product for identifying physical locations of devices within an electronic system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code readable and executable by a processor to perform a method comprising:

• activating, by a hardware system controller in an electronic system, a specific fan in the electronic system at a specific speed, wherein the specific fan runs at the specific speed during a predefined period of time during initialization of the system, wherein a physical location of wind output from the specific fan is known to the hardware system controller, and wherein a physical location of the specific fan is known to a hardware controller;
• measuring, by an anemometer coupled to a particular variable-positioned device within the electronic system, airflow across the particular variable-positioned device;
• transmitting, from the anemometer to the hardware system controller, a signal that describes the airflow across the particular variable-positioned device;
• and
• determining a physical location of the particular variable-positioned device within the electronic system according to measured airflow, from the specific fan that is at a known physical location, across the particular variable-positioned device.