Abstract: A disclosed example includes: a temperature predictor to determine a combined ambient air temperature of a data center during a future duration based on 1) a first ambient air temperature corresponding to heat generated by hardware resources in physical server racks when executing workloads and 2) a second ambient air temperature corresponding to a building structure of the data center; a power utilization analyzer to determine a predicted total data center power utilization for the future duration based on a computing power utilization and a climate control power utilization, the climate control power utilization based on a power utilization corresponding to adjusting the combined ambient air temperature to satisfy an ambient air temperature threshold; and a power manager to configure a power supply station to deliver an amount of electrical power during the future duration to satisfy the predicted total data center power utilization.

Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a packet analyzer to determine that a first virtualized server is preparing to migrate to a second virtualized server based on a data packet, a packet flow path generator to identify a set of network switches between the first virtualized server and the second virtualized server when the first virtualized server is in a different rackmount server than the second virtualized server, and a policy adjustor to adjust a policy of one or more network switches in the set to prioritize a packet flow corresponding to the migration.

Abstract: A disclosed example of autonomously configuring a virtual network and a physical network in a physical rack includes generating network topologies of hosts based on physical network connection information indicative of physical network connections between the hosts and a top-of-rack switch in the physical rack; determining whether implementing the network topologies of the hosts concurrently in the physical rack is valid based on evaluating the network topologies relative to a network topology validation rule; when implementing the network topologies of the hosts concurrently in the physical rack is valid: configuring a virtual distributed switch in a first one of the hosts based on one of the network topologies; and configuring the top-of-rack switch in communication with the first host based on the one of the network topologies.

Abstract: The technology disclosed herein automatically detects network topology for merging two isolated networks. In a particular embodiment, a method is performed in a first network of the two isolated networks and provides sending probe messages to a second network of the two isolated networks. The probe messages formatted for one or more passive protocols in the second network. The method further provides receiving replies to at least a portion of the probe messages from the second network indicating configuration parameters of the passive protocols and receiving neighbor messages from the second network indicating configuration parameters of active protocols in the second network. Additionally, the method provides determining a network topology of the second network using the configuration parameters of the passive protocols and the configuration parameters of the active protocols.

Abstract: A disclosed example apparatus to manage port allocations for network load balancing includes a telematics network information collector to collect bandwidth utilizations corresponding to physical links of network paths between a source and a destination, the network paths including at least one of a link aggregation group hop or an equal cost multi-path hop; a cost calculator to determine network path costs corresponding to unused protocol ports of a physical server host based on the bandwidth utilizations; a comparator to compare the network path costs; and a port allocator to, based on the comparison, allocate one of the unused protocol ports to an application.

Abstract: Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture are disclosed to improve resource allocation for virtualized server systems. An example apparatus includes a resource identifier to identify a set of external storage resources when a host storage solution is not identified, a storage cost calculator to calculate a cost corresponding to the external storage resource set by comparing a parameter of an external storage resource in the external storage resource set to a requirement, a cost analyzer to determine whether the cost satisfies a cost threshold by comparing the cost to a cost threshold, and a workload domain allocator to allocate the external storage resource set to the workload domain when the cost satisfies the cost threshold.

Abstract: An example apparatus to manage network resources includes a link aggregator to: aggregate a first plurality of physical network interface cards to create a first link aggregated group, the first link aggregated group corresponding to a first virtual network interface card; and aggregate a second plurality of physical network interface cards to create a second link aggregated group, the second link aggregated group corresponding to a second virtual network interface card; and a link manager to: connect the first link aggregated group between a first distributed virtual port and a first top-of-rack switch; connect the second link aggregated group between a second distributed virtual port and a second top-of-rack switch; and remove an invalid connection between the first plurality of physical network interface cards and the second top-of-rack switch.

Abstract: An example apparatus to manage network resources includes a load balancing detector to determine to reassign first and second network fabrics; and a network fabric configurator to, in response to the detecting to reassign the first and second network fabrics, configuring a virtual network distributed switch to: assign the first network fabric to ones of the first applications previously assigned to the second network fabric; and assign the second network fabric to the second application.

Abstract: Exemplary methods, apparatuses, and systems manage network interface controllers (NICs) to determine when NICs within a host operating in active-passive mode can operate in an active-active mode. A host sends probe messages from a first NIC of the host to determine whether a second NIC of the host receives the probe messages. When the second NIC does not receive probe messages, the NICs within the host can operate in an active-active mode.

Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture to perform network fabric migration in virtualized servers are disclosed and described. An example apparatus a layer detector to determine a first network fabric layer of a communication network by sending a first probe packet from a first network resource to a second network resource via a communication link and determine to migrate the first network fabric layer to a second network fabric layer based on whether the first network resource receives a reply probe packet from the second network resource in response to the first probe packet.

Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture to optimize or otherwise improve packet flow among virtualized servers are disclosed and described. An example apparatus includes a load balance list generator to identify abstracted network resources in a virtualized network based on a utilization status parameter of the abstracted network resources, generate a load balance list including the identified abstracted network resources, the load balance list including a number of the abstracted network resources satisfying a threshold, and generate a network routing configuration for data packets in the virtualized network based on the generated load balance list. The example apparatus further includes a policy adjustor to adjust a policy of a physical hardware resource corresponding to one of the one or more abstracted network resources based on the network routing configuration to distribute a packet flow among the abstracted network resources.

Abstract: Exemplary methods, apparatuses, and systems manage network interface controllers (NICs) to determine when NICs within a host operating in active-passive mode can operate in an active-active mode. A host sends probe messages from a first NIC of the host to determine whether a second NIC of the host receives the probe messages. When the second NIC does not receive probe messages, the NICs within the host can operate in an active-active mode.

Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a packet analyzer to determine that a first virtualized server is preparing to migrate to a second virtualized server based on a data packet, a packet flow path generator to identify a set of network switches between the first virtualized server and the second virtualized server when the first virtualized server is in a different rackmount server than the second virtualized server, and a policy adjustor to adjust a policy of one or more network switches in the set to prioritize a packet flow corresponding to the migration.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus to cross configure network resources of software defined data centers are disclosed. An example method includes detecting a first configuration change for a first component of a first one of a virtual network or a physical network, the virtual network to provide networking for a virtual computing system, and the physical network to implement the virtual network, identifying, by executing an instruction with a processor, a second component of a second different one of the virtual network or the physical network corresponding to the first component, and making a second configuration change to the second component corresponding to the first configuration change.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus to configure switches of a virtual rack are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a hardware switch implementing a virtual switch on a virtual communication network, a packet analyzer to analyze a packet captured at the hardware switch, the packet analyzer to determine whether the packet is indicative of a packet flow issue corresponding to a negative effect on transfer of one or more packet flows on the virtual communication network, an issue handler to, in response to the determination by the packet analyzer, determine a modification to a configuration of the hardware switch based on a configuration of the virtual configuration network, and a hardware configuration agent to modify the configuration of the hardware switch based on the modification determined by the issue handler.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus to optimize memory allocation in response to a storage rebalancing event are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a telematics agent to detect a rebalancing event based on metadata; and a decision engine to identify a cluster corresponding to the rebalancing event by processing the metadata; and increase a number of jumbo buffers in a network switch corresponding to the cluster in response to the rebalancing event.

Abstract: The technology disclosed herein enables an L3 network fabric including one or more spine switches having a leaf-spine topology to be self-expanded. In a particular embodiment, a method provides transferring one or more probe messages from each of the spine switches. The probe messages detect whether new computing nodes have been attached to the communication network. The method further provides receiving a reply to at least one of the probe messages. The reply identifies a new computing node that is not yet included in the L3 fabric.

Abstract: The technology disclosed herein automatically detects network topology for merging two isolated networks. In a particular embodiment, a method is performed in a first network of the two isolated networks and provides sending probe messages to a second network of the two isolated networks. The probe messages formatted for one or more passive protocols in the second network. The method further provides receiving replies to at least a portion of the probe messages from the second network indicating configuration parameters of the passive protocols and receiving neighbor messages from the second network indicating configuration parameters of active protocols in the second network. Additionally, the method provides determining a network topology of the second network using the configuration parameters of the passive protocols and the configuration parameters of the active protocols.

Abstract: A network device includes a control processor and a network processor unit (NPU) to forward network packets between network ports of the device. The processor downloads a new operating system (OS). The processor performs a fast upgrade to the new OS using a fast upgrade/reload technique to isolate the processor from interruptions and, without rebooting the processor, start the new OS in place of an existing OS. The fast upgrade/reload also includes delaying a reset of the NPU so that the NPU continues to route the network packets based on existing forwarding information. The fast upgrade/reload includes resetting the NPU only when the new OS first accesses the NPU, and then programming the reset NPU.