centralized authentication - request for advice

[antonello facchetti]

I'm setting up a new lab from scratch, using ubuntu 8.04.
I have about 30 pc in the lab and in the classrooms.
I want every user  (about 100) have his own login and home.
In the old lab I set up things in a veeeery awkward way  (little or no 
time at disposition) with NFS (always working, no problems at all) and 
simply copying /etc/passwd /etc/shadow /etc/group in every pc.
Non I've got some time to spend and I want to do it the right way.
NFS server seems to me the simplest way.
I need some advice regarding centralized authentication.
It seems to me that ldap is a bit complicated to set up, and has 
features I really don't need: all I want is a server giving everyone a  
login-password-home and nothing else.
Are there any alternatives?

TIA
Antonello