Bit of a strange question I have. I run a small network of linux computers within a larger network of M$ machines. Our servers are all Novell Netware machines. We use zenworks to push programs, settings and icons to the M$ machines, and I was wondering if autoyast can be used to accomplish the same goals, i.e. if I want all of the linux machines to have inkscape, can I setup an autoyast xml file that instructs all of the machines to get inkscape rpm, perhaps from my main linux box (at my desk, natch) with the goal of only having to get the file once from the repo's, (I only have t1 for outside net access, and its shared with the entire building) and not having to fingerprint each machine any time I wish to install software on the entire lab.

Thanks for any advice the community can give me.

Have a look at Webmin. It's modularized, so that you can install a basic package, then add modules as you need them. There is also an extensive body of contributed modules.
http://www.webmin.com/about.html