I currently am administering about 200 SUSE Linux Enterprise Servers with ZENworks in remote offices. The primary functions for all these servers are web caching with Squid and allow users to perform some web based training with Firefox. I am getting ready to change out hardware on these machines and possibly even the OS. I was looking at some basic HP desktops with CentOS 6 as the OS. I plan to look at some additional benefits that could be performed by these machines such as local office re-imaging for notebook users. Today, when a sales person dorks up their notebook we ship out replacements. I would like to provide a PXE network boot re-imaging process so they could just go to their local office and re-image their machines. Save on shipping cost and user downtime. Any suggestions for this? Anyone doing something similar? Along with the web caching I would like to investigate a way to allow these machines to provide a local replication of a file server that is located in the main campus. All these file servers are running Windows Server 2008 and we have 1 office doing something similar to what I am looking into using Microsoft DFS. Is there an equivalent to Microsoft DFS that is fairly easy to setup and get rolling with? This would allow users in the remote offices to have a drive letter, everything would be running Windows except these caching machines, that would replicate back to the main campus so they can store important files that would get backed up at the main campus. This would also be good to have before the re-image so they can backup their data, if possible, depending on how bad the notebook is. Then after they re-image they could restore their files. I am also thinking quotas should be set as well so personal mp3 and video files aren't getting replicated and backed up. So with all that being said, any suggestions or helpful hints from experienced Linux admins that may already be doing something similar. I am not sold on CentOS just like the fact that it doesn't update that often since these machines will be in remote offices across the USA, not globally. What is a good, easy to learn, configuration management tool to administer changes and updates for these machines?

I'd look at a gpxe/ipxe option to replicate. Not sure which way you want to do it as a few means exist. Either with user interaction or limited interaction. Some HP systems allow a F key at boot to re-image but I never looked at how it works. I assumed it to be a pxe setup. (guess I should know this)

The rest maybe others have ideas.