since i'm running diskless with a live image(LinuxCoin) via networkboot, the hardreboot is not a problem at all.
this setup works great for me, so i can push my setup to the limit and tweak around ... and unfortunately the server room is 10km away
You can always reach them with 20 min bicycle trip... Don't be lazy
Anyway are you networkbooting the nodes from different folders containing LinuxCoin versions for each one of them or you're using one with script that makes changes based on the current node's MAC address/cpu number?

i'm such a lazy guy
i'm booting all rig's into the same LC image, however at boottime i'm mounting a dedicated nfs share, where i have the configurations, scripts, etc