A method comprising: receiving, by a first Software Defined Networking SDN controller configured on a fabric management server communicably coupled to a management switch, switch configuration information for one or more Internet Protocol IP fabric switches communicably coupled to the management switch; discovering, by the first SDN controller, a physical server communicably coupled to the management switch; receiving, by the first SDN controller from the physical server via the management switch, server configuration information associated with one or more network interfaces coupling the physical server to switch ports of an IP fabric switch of the one or more IP fabric switches; determining, by the first SDN controller, based at least in part on the server configuration information and the switch configuration information, an IP fabric configuration; providing, by the first SDN controller, switch port configuration information to the one or more IP fabric switches, wherein the switch port configuration information is based, at least in part, on the IP fabric configuration and configuration data indicating a role assigned by a user to the physical server that describes functionality provided by software executing on the physical server; determining, by the first SDN controller, server network interface configuration information based, at least in part, on the IP fabric configuration and mapping wherein the mapping data maps the one or more network interfaces of the physical server to one or more virtual Local Area Networks, VLANs, based on the role assigned to the physical server; and providing, by the first SDN controller, the server network interface configuration information to the physical server. receiving, by a first Software Defined Networking SDN controller configured on a fabric management server communicably coupled to a management switch, switch configuration information for one or more Internet Protocol IP fabric switches communicably coupled to the management switch; discovering, by the first SDN controller, a physical server communicably coupled to the management switch; receiving, by the first SDN controller from the physical server via the management switch, server configuration information associated with one or more network interfaces coupling the physical server to switch ports of an IP fabric switch of the one or more IP fabric switches; determining, by the first SDN controller, based at least in part on the server configuration information and the switch configuration information, an IP fabric configuration; providing, by the first SDN controller, switch port configuration information to the one or more IP fabric switches, wherein the switch port configuration information is based, at least in part, on the IP fabric configuration and configuration data indicating a role assigned by a user to the physical server that describes functionality provided by software executing on the physical server; determining, by the first SDN controller, server network interface configuration information based, at least in part, on the IP fabric configuration and mapping wherein the mapping data maps the one or more network interfaces of the physical server to one or more virtual Local Area Networks, VLANs, based on the role assigned to the physical server; and providing, by the first SDN controller, the server network interface configuration information to the physical server. <EOS>