how to configure the network in a lab with 8 computers and ubuntustudio

[padovani]

Hi,
we are planning to create a ubuntu-studio based lab with 8 computers... 
I am already a Ubuntu studio user, but had never configured a network 
like that in ubuntu... Does anyone have a tutorial or something like that?
We would need to set these machines so that the students could run some 
programs but not change the config files and such things...
Any tips are welcome.
tx,
J. H. Padovani

PS: It would also be nice to configure all machines without effort 
(install programs and so on). A local repo would be a good but I am 
thinking if it would be possible to "clone" all the system changes in 
one machine to the other 7...