I am running a M$ AD network.

I am aiming/in the process of installing a number of Debian Linux clients (I can't think of a better distro :-) )

I have set up a number of things on the network so far and Its all going well. But from a maintenance point of view what is the best way to distribute settings?

Say for example I install a new application and want to define (potentialy lots of) new default settings is there a way of automating this so I don't have to manually copy or edit files on computers when I install an application with apt-get?

Should I have part or all my /etc/ mounted from network drives?

Is there a way of pushing out (or pulling down using chron or another application) updated settings?

Can I easily automate settings by making a default package that contains the settings and installs them when I apt-get upgrade?

I'd love to hear from people who have set up Debian networks. At the moment I'm aiming for 15 machines but if successful the number will grow.