Systems and methods are provided for automatically determining certain physical characteristics of a network device. In one embodiment, a method is employed to automatically determine the physical location of a network device. This method may employ a computer based system to acquire network device information, instruct the network devices to change power consumption, detect the changes and determine the physical location of the network device based on the changes detected. In another embodiment, a method is employed to automatically determine the functional type of a network device. This method may employ a computer based system to monitor the power drawn by the network device at a power distribution device and determine the network device functional type based on the power drawn.