Method and apparatus for physically locating a network component

1. A method for determining a physical location of a network component mounted on a component rack, comprising:

placing the network component in the physical location, wherein the network component comprises a sensor having a range;

determining a location value identifying the physical location of the network component using a location scheme;

obtaining an electronic location tag (ELT) comprising a first segment having a human-readable value set to the location value and a second segment having a machine-readable value set to the location value,

wherein the human-readable value and the machine-readable value are located on an exterior of the ELT, and

wherein the first segment and the second segment form an angle greater than zero degrees and less than 180 degrees;

installing the ELT on at least one selected from a group consisting of the network component and the component rack by positioning the machine-readable value within the range of the sensor; and

obtaining the location value of the network component by reading the machine-readable value on the exterior of the ELT using the sensor of the network component.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a status of the network component after installing the ELT;

determining whether the network component is operating within normal operating parameters; and

issuing a service request for the network component after obtaining the location value by reading the machine-readable value using the sensor, wherein the service request comprises the human-readable value of the location value identifying the physical location of the network component.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the physical location of the network component corresponds to a location in a server rack, wherein the server rack comprises a plurality of shelves, and wherein the location scheme comprises a rack identification component and a shelf identification component.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the machine-readable value comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of an optically-encoded representation of the location value, a magnetically-encoded representation of the location value, a mechanically-encoded representation of the location value, and an electrically-encoded representation of the location value.

5. A network computing system, comprising

a network component mounted on a component rack, comprising a sensor with a range, stored in a physical location within the network computing system;

an electronic location tag (ELT) installed on at least one selected from a group consisting of the network component and the component rack, comprising:

a first segment having a human-readable value set to a location value; and

a second segment having a machine-readable value set to the location value,

wherein the location value identifies the physical location of the network component,

wherein the machine-readable value is within the range of the sensor after installing the ELT,

wherein the human-readable value and the machine-readable value are located on an exterior of the ELT, and

wherein the first segment and the second segment form an angle greater than zero degrees and less than 180 degrees; and

a remote system operatively connected to the network component and configured to obtain the location value from a reading of the machine-readable value on the exterior of the ELT taken by the sensor of the network component.

6. The network computing system of claim 5 , wherein the network component comprises a server.

7. The network computing system of claim 5 , wherein the machine-readable value comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of an optically-encoded representation of the location value, a magnetically-encoded representation of the location value, a mechanically-encoded representation of the location value, and an electrically-encoded representation of the location value.

8. The network computing system of claim 5 , wherein the physical location corresponds to a location in a server rack.

9. A computer readable storage medium comprising computer executable software instructions embodied therein for determining a physical location of a network component mounted on a component rack, the software instructions executable by a computer to:

receive, from a remote system, a query for the physical location of the network component, wherein the network component comprises a sensor having a range;

obtain, from the sensor of the network component, a reading of a machine-readable value located on an exterior of an electronic location tag (ELT),

wherein the machine-readable value is set to a location value identifying the physical location of the network component,

wherein the ELT comprises a first segment having a human-readable value set to the location value and a second segment having the machine-readable value set to the location value,

wherein the first segment and the second segment form an angle greater than zero degrees and less than 180 degrees, and

wherein the ELT is installed on at least one selected from a group consisting of the network component and the component rack; and

sending the reading to the remote system in response to the query.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

turning a dial of the ELT to set the human-readable value to the location value.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

cutting a plurality of tabs on the ELT to set the machine-readable value to the location value.

12. The network computing system of claim 5 , wherein the ELT further comprises:

a dial for setting the human-readable value to the location value.

13. The network computing system of claim 5 , wherein the ELT further comprises:

a plurality of tabs with a plurality of cuts at plurality of locations, wherein the reading is based on the plurality of locations.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second segment exceeds the first segment in length.

15. The network computing system of claim 5 , wherein the second segment exceeds the first segment in length.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the second segment exceeds the first segment in length.