Launch app on thinclient(ltsp)?

In order to facilitate the use of thinclients with ltsp as computing nodes
in a parallel computing cluster using lam/mpi, I need to launch applications
on the thinclients from the server using ssh, i.e.,

#> ssh ws001 app_to_run

With earlier ltsp versions (of the RH variety) this required

1) exporting /home from the server and mounting on the clients
2) setting up nis on the server(ypserv) and running ypbind on the clients
3) setting up and running sshd on the clients (and getting all the keys
right)
4) setting up dhcp and hosts on the server to be sure clients have hostnames
(ws001)
5) installing lam-runtime routines on clients

Before I start hacking the ltsp scripts, I'd like some advice on whether
this is the best or preferred approach with the ubuntu MueCow system. If
not, what should I do? If so, some pointers on how to script it would be
appreciated. I've done lots of ltsp systems on rh/fedora, but I'm fairly new
to ubuntu/debian and just learning tempfs and the like.

Hope this is on topic, thanks,
John

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John L Bartelt
bartelt at hawaiian.net