Samba box as Software Management Server for windows?? any one
 

Can this be done. Then there would be no need for a windows server in my network at all.

WTH is a software management server? You mean like package management for workstations aka http://www.altiris.com/. If you mean a file server, then yea, samba is a fileserver.

This is close.
 

http://unattended.sourceforge.net/ replaces rollout images and other dirty tricks ie a new machine setup from scratch some addons to unattended makes it even better..

What Software Management Server let me do is say next boot install this list of software on partical clients. Updates rollouts of new software removal of software can be done as well. This is handy. Now if I can do this with a linux/freebsd box I would not have any need for a windows server everything would be linux in the server room. Now I can use any one to walk into a room and reboot every machine. Even cleaner can be just told to turn every machine off the night before and turn them on in the morning and before everyone turns up the software is installed.

Lets say almost everyone else is running Windows XP so I do need a way of quickly changing the software. Without costing me time. Yes my boss it tight and I would just like to make my server room simpler. One os one set of problems to deal with and able to move to a complete cluster fix ie all linux all able to pickup fall over so users don't know and don't ring me because the server is down.

Other rollout systems are all ready used on the linux systems. Software changes to the linuxs are done simplely with cluster management software.