Common user accounts between linux machines

I have a base system with a few (currently two) VMs on top of it, all running Ubuntu Server. I have to keep adding my user account on each system when I bring a new one up, as well as giving it sudo access, etc. and there are things in the way such as passwords/private keys not being automatically synchronized.

Is there a simple way to provide shared login for (one or two) user accounts on all these? They need to be real accounts with home directories and the like. They also already exist so I'll need to migrate them from a normal user account to the new solution.

LDAP seems a little (a lot) more complex than I really need, and I was having a hard time telling if NIS was what I wanted. What solutions should I be looking at, and how do I get started?

Solution 1:

Use a configuration management tool like puppet.

Solution 2:

Have you considered creating a base VM to clone?