Originally asked in Super User but realized this belongs here.

Long story short, I am setting up a network with 32 servers of varying specs that will be used for testing and development. We will be using RedHat Linux, we also do not have a router as of yet and were looking into making one of the servers act as our router/DHCP etc. The small cluster will be on an isolated network with no internet. I can use external harddrives and discs to transfer anything from external sources into machines on the network, so this isn't a locked down secure network, it just won't have a direct connection to the outside world.

I've worked on such setups before, but always long after they were setup.

So I'm reaching out to see what everyone knows as far as how groups have handled initial setup and maintenance of such a situation.

What is the best way to get them all configured and up to date? What are the best ways to automate updates, network wide installs, etc.

With the only given that I have large multi-terabyte external hard drives that would be used to drop whatever files are needed onto a central server, how do i then distribute those files and install their contents?

I've done perl scripting, some teammates have played with puppet, so we aren't completely in the dark, I just wanted to avoid reinventing the wheel since this is a common challenge.