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In one embodiment of the invention, a method of designing the racking configuration for boxes in racks and for determining which connections go between different racks, including: solving a rack select optimization sub-problem to determine racks to use; and solving a rack assign optimization sub-pro

In one embodiment of the invention, a method of designing the racking configuration for boxes in racks and for determining which connections go between different racks, including: solving a rack select optimization sub-problem to determine racks to use; and solving a rack assign optimization sub-problem to determine which particular rack will hold a particular box. In another embodiment, an apparatus for designing the racking configuration for boxes in racks and for determining which connections go between different racks, including: a machine-readable representation for a racking configuration problem; and a solver that can read that machine-readable representation and that is configured to: solve a rack select optimization sub-problem to determine at least one rack to use; and solve a rack assign optimization sub-problem to determine which particular rack will hold at least one box.

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1. A method comprising: obtaining, by a computer, information regarding physical attributes of boxes to be assigned to racks and of a set of available racks, the boxes including networked electronic devices;identifying, by the computer, particular racks to use, from the set of available racks, by so

1. A method comprising: obtaining, by a computer, information regarding physical attributes of boxes to be assigned to racks and of a set of available racks, the boxes including networked electronic devices;identifying, by the computer, particular racks to use, from the set of available racks, by solving a rack select optimization sub-problem using the obtained information;assigning, by the computer, each of the boxes to one of the particular racks by solving a rack assign optimization sub-problem using the obtained information, the rack assign optimization sub-problem being solved after the rack select optimization sub-problem has been solved;at least one of: (1) outputting an assignment solution to a user interface, the assignment solution including results of the identifying and the assigning, or (2) placing the boxes into the particular racks based on the assignment solution,wherein solving the rack assign optimization sub-problem includes:solving for a decision variable X (a,r) to determine if a box (a) is to be assigned to a rack (r), andsolving for a decision variable X (b,s) to determine if a box (b) is to be assigned to a rack (s); andsolving for a decision variable Z (a,r,b,s) which is a quadratic term X (a,r)*X (b,s). 2. The method of claim 1, wherein variables of Z (a,r,b,s) are treated as continuous to increase a speed of solving the rack assign optimization sub-problem. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the rack select optimization sub-problem and the rack assign optimization sub-problem is solved by using an integer-programming solution. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the boxes are components of a computer network system. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein a constraint of the rack assign optimization sub-problem comprises required connections between the boxes, and where a connection comprises one or more non-physical links formed from at least one of: a wireless link, a free-air/free-space optical link, a laser link, and an acoustic link. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein a constraint of the rack assign optimization sub-problem comprises required connections between the boxes, and where the connections comprise one or more physical links formed from at least one of: an electrical link;an optical fibre; anda mechanical link. 7. The method of claim 6, where at least one of the connections is implemented as at least one of an Ethernet link, lnfiniBand link, Fibre Channellink, serial link, point-to-point computer link, point-to-point network link, star computer link, star network link, local area link, wide area link, campus-area link, metropolitan-area link, and a satellite link. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the rack select optimization sub-problem is solved based upon at least one of the following constraints: a dimension of a box in a particular rack cannot exceed a dimension of the rack, a selected rack meets the power requirements for boxes placed in the selected rack, a box requiring uninterrupted power (UPS) is placed in a rack with adequate UPS capability, heat generated by boxes in a single particular rack is within a particular limit, a certain type of box and a certain type of rack are prohibited as a combination, a box and a backup of the box are placed in separate racks, and a box and a backup of the box are separated by at least some defined distance. 9. The method of claim 1, wherein solving the rack select optimization sub-problem includes at least one of the following objectives: to minimize a total cost of selected racks, to minimize a number of selected racks, to minimize a cost of racks that are not yet owned, to minimize floor space needs, to minimize power requirements, to balance cooling requirements, and to use only a single rack type. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the rack assign optimization sub-problem is solved based upon at least one of the following constraints: an associated physical attribute of each box, an associated wiring layout requirement of each box, a requirement that a particular box is to be placed in a particular rack, a requirement that a particular box is to not be placed in a particular rack. 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the rack assign optimization sub-problem is solved based upon at least one of the following objectives: to minimize total link length, to minimize a total number of inter-rack links, to minimize a number of links exceeding a defined length, to minimize a total length of inter-rack links, to minimize a cost of inter-rack links, to minimize a number of links crossing between machine rooms, domains, or buildings, to minimize the height of the center of gravity of a rack, to leave space for future growth and slots for new boxes, and to maximize a number of intra-rack links. 12. The method of claim 1, wherein solving the rack select optimization sub-problem includes: requiring an anti-symmetry constraint so that a particular rack will be required to be used for holding a box before a second rack is used for holding a box. 13. The method of claim 1, wherein solving the rack select optimization sub-problem comprises: defining a meta-constraint comprising a sum of particular constraints of boxes assigned to a given rack; andassigning the boxes to the given rack only if the meta-constraint does not exceed a capacity for the meta-constraint of the particular rack. box. 14. A method comprising: obtaining, by a computer, information regarding physical attributes of boxes to be assigned to racks and of a set of available racks, the boxes including networked electronic devices;identifying, by the computer, particular racks to use, from the set of available racks, by solving a rack select optimization sub-problem using the obtained information;assigning, by the computer, each of the boxes to one of the particular racks by solving a rack assign optimization sub-problem using the obtained information, the rack assign optimization sub-problem being solved after the rack select optimization sub-problem has been solved;at least one of: (1) outputting an assignment solution to a user interface, the assignment solution including results of the identifying and the assigning, or (2) placing the boxes into the particular racks based on the assignment solution; anddetermining a physical location of each rack that will hold at least one box by solving a rack layout optimization sub-problem, the solving of the rack layout optimization sub-problem including solving for a plurality of decision variables to determine if a rack is to be assigned to a given location, wherein solving the rack layout optimization sub-problem includes:solving for a decision variable X (r,L) to determine if a rack (r) is to be assigned to a location (L), andsolving for a decision variable X (s,M) to determine if a rack (s) is to be assigned to a location (M); andsolving for a decision variable Z (r,L,s,M) which is a quadratic term X (r,L)*X (s,M). 15. The method of claim 14, wherein variables of Z (r,L,s,M) are treated as continuous to increase a speed of solving the rack layout optimization sub-problem. 16. An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing a computer program, said computer program upon execution causing a computer to: obtain information regarding physical attributes of boxes to be assigned to racks and of a set of available racks, the boxes including networked electronic devices;identify particular racks to use, from the set of available racks, by solving a rack select optimization sub-problem using the obtained information;assign each of the boxes to one of the particular racks by solving a rack assign optimization sub-problem using the obtained information, the rack assign optimization sub-problem being solved after the rack select optimization sub-problem has been solved;output an assignment solution to a user interface, the assignment solution including results of the identifying and the assigning; anddetermine a physical location of each rack that will hold at least one box by solving a rack layout optimization sub-problem, wherein solving the rack layout optimization sub-problem includes:solving for a decision variable X (r,L) to determine if a rack (r) is to be assigned to a location (L), solving for a decision variable X (s,M) to determine if a rack (s) is to be assigned to a location (M), and solving for a decision variable Z (r,L,s,M) which is a quadratic term X (r,L)*X (s,M). 17. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein solving the rack select optimization sub-problem includes: solving for a decision variable Y (r) to determine if a rack (r) is to be used to hold a box; andsolving for a decision variable NX (bt,r) to determine the number of boxes of type (bt) to be placed in a rack (r). 18. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the variables of Z (r,L,s,M) are treated as continuous to increase a speed of solving the rack layout optimization sub-problem. 19. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein solving the rack assign optimization sub-problem comprises using a number of boxes assigned to each rack in the rack select optimization sub-problem as a guideline, wherein the number of boxes is used: to choose a number of instances of each rack type;to choose a number of boxes of each type to assign to each rack. 20. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein at least one of the rack select optimization sub-problem and the rack assign optimization sub-problem is solved by using an integer-programming solution. 21. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the boxes are components of a computer network system. 22. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein a constraint of the rack assign optimization sub-problem comprises required connections between the boxes, and where a connection comprises one or more non-physical links formed from at least one of: a wireless link, a free-air/free-space optical link, a laser link, and an acoustic link. 23. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein a constraint of the rack assign optimization sub-problem comprises required connections between the boxes, and where the connections comprise one or more physical links formed from at least one of: an electrical link, comprising at least one of a conductive wire, and a copper cabling;an optical fibre; anda mechanical link, comprising at least one of a string, a rope, a tape, a wire, a pipe, a tube, a channel, and a hydraulic line. 24. The article of manufacture of claim 23, where at least one of the connections is implemented as at least one of an Ethernet link, lnfiniBand link, Fibre Channel link, serial link, point-to-point computer link, point-to-point network link, star computer link, star network link, local area link, wide area link, campus-area link, metropolitan-area link, and a satellite link. 25. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein said computer program is executable to input design considerations for the optimization sub-problems coded in a specified integer programming language. 26. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the rack select optimization sub-problem is solved based upon at least one of the following constraints: a dimension of a box in a particular rack cannot exceed a dimension of the rack, a selected rack meets the power requirements for boxes placed in the selected rack, a box requiring uninterrupted power (UPS) is placed in a rack with adequate UPS capability, heat generated by boxes in a single particular rack is within a particular limit, a certain type of box and a certain type of rack are prohibited as a combination, a box and a backup of the box are placed in separate racks, and a box and a backup of the box are separated by at least some defined distance. 27. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein solving the rack select optimization sub-problem includes at least one of the following objectives: to minimize a total cost of selected racks, to minimize a number of selected racks, to minimize a cost of racks that are not yet owned, to minimize floor space needs, to minimize power requirements, to balance cooling requirements, and to use only a single rack type. 28. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the rack assign optimization sub-problem is solved based upon at least one of the following constraints: an associated physical attribute of each box, an associated wiring layout requirement of each box, a requirement that a particular box is to be placed in a particular rack, a requirement that a particular box is to not be placed in a particular rack. 29. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the rack assign optimization sub-problem is solved based upon at least one of the following objectives: to minimize total link length, to minimize a total number of inter-rack links, to minimize a number of links exceeding a defined length, to minimize a total length of inter-rack links, to minimize a cost of inter-rack links, to minimize a number of links crossing between machine rooms, domains, or buildings, to minimize the height of the center of gravity of a rack, to leave space for future growth and slots for new boxes, and to maximize a number of intra-rack links. 30. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the rack layout optimization sub-problem is solved based upon at least one of the following objectives: to minimize a total link length, to minimize a total number of inter-rack links, to minimize a number of links exceeding a defined length, to minimize a cost of inter-rack links, to minimize a total length of inter-rack links, to minimize a number of links crossing between machine rooms, domains, or buildings, to minimize floor space needs, to minimize power requirements, and to balance cooling requirements. 31. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein solving the rack select optimization sub-problem includes: requiring an anti-symmetry constraint so that a particular rack (r) will be required to be used for holding a box before a second rack (r+1) is used for holding a box. 32. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein solving the rack assign optimization sub-problem includes: using an initial solution from the rack select optimization sub-problem for the rack assign optimization sub-problem. 33. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein solving the rack assign optimization sub-problem includes: using a lower bound from an initial solution from the rack select optimization sub-problem as an input. 34. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein solving the rack assign optimization sub-problem includes: using constraint branching to increase solution calculation process speed. 35. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the boxes form at least one network comprising: at least one of a computer network, a universal data center, an Internet data center, a telecommunications network, a storage network, a storage area network (SAN), a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a disk array, a tape library, a hub, a switch, and a router. 36. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein solving the rack select optimization sub-problem comprises: defining a meta-constraint comprising a sum of particular constraints of boxes assigned to a given rack; andassigning the boxes to the given rack only if the meta-constraint does not exceed a capacity for the meta-constraint of the particular rack. 37. An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing a computer program, said computer program upon execution causing a computer to: obtain information regarding physical attributes of boxes to be assigned to racks and of a set of available racks, the boxes including networked electronic devices;identify particular racks to use, from the set of available racks, by solving a rack select optimization sub-problem using the obtained information;assign each of the boxes to one of the particular racks by solving a rack assign optimization sub-problem using the obtained information, the rack assign optimization sub-problem being solved after the rack select optimization sub-problem has been solved;output an assignment solution to a user interface, the assignment solution including results of the identifying and the assigning; and determine a physical location of each rack that will hold at least one box by solving a rack layout optimization sub-problem,wherein solving the rack assign optimization sub-problem includes: solving for a decision variable X (a,r) to determine if a box (a) is to be assigned to a rack (r);solving for a decision variable X (b,s) to determine if a box (b) is to be assigned to a rack (s); andsolving for a decision variable Z (a,r,b,s) which is a quadratic term X (a,r)*X (b,s). 38. The article of manufacture of claim 37, wherein variables of Z (a,r,b,s) are treated as continuous to increase a speed of solving the rack assign optimization sub-problem.