So what I do here is that I have a local PXE server (it's a DHCP option on your router) that serves up iPXE with a preconfigured script to boot via HTTP off of netboot.xyz. So whenever I want to install linux on a new computer, I set the BIOS boot option to boot from PXE next boot and restart. In a few seconds, I am presented with my choice of linux environment.
For my data center servers, I have it booting via PXE to an iPXE with a custom script to take a unique identifier from the host and build the corresponding configuration (NixOS). So essentially for that I define my NixOS configuration in a NixOS flake and plug the new host in and it will boot to the correct configuration. I actually don't have any OS installation on most of the hosts and share the nix store via NFS.
I also keep an iPXE thumb drive around in case I need to do this for something not on my network. In that case, I insert the drive, boot from it, and then ask it to boot from netboot.xyz manually.
For my data center servers, I have it booting via PXE to an iPXE with a custom script to take a unique identifier from the host and build the corresponding configuration (NixOS). So essentially for that I define my NixOS configuration in a NixOS flake and plug the new host in and it will boot to the correct configuration. I actually don't have any OS installation on most of the hosts and share the nix store via NFS.
I also keep an iPXE thumb drive around in case I need to do this for something not on my network. In that case, I insert the drive, boot from it, and then ask it to boot from netboot.xyz manually.