[Charlug] Single Serve (with OS) and multiple clients (each with different environment)

[Jason Edgecombe]

David Simmons wrote:
> Was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for the following setup:
>
> Machines all networked.....single 'server' with main copy of 
> OS...multiple client computers.
>
> Issue:  Have multiple machines that when I do a system update/change 
> (like moving from LinuxMint from 2.2 to 3.0) suggests a full reinstall.
>
> While I know I could have /home on a different partition - I still 
> have to replicate on each machine involved?!  Did a little searching 
> about PXE - but what I found was circa 1999....there's gotta be newer 
> stuff?
>
> Only recent thing I found was http://drbl.sourceforge.net/
>
> Does anyone locally have such a setup?
> Can each 'client' have a different config?  Where is that stored if no 
> local hardware?  I guess that could be done with client sign-in, could 
> I have different setups (with auto-login) based on MAC address?
>
>
> Thanks in advance - dave
I'm confused about what you're asking.

Are you wanting automated installs? automated upgrades? home directories 
mounted from a central server? centralized host configuration management 
from the server?

Jason