(advice needed) User Operations Automation + LTSP

Question

System administration

First, some background information:
There is a server based on Edubuntu 12.04, LTSP is installed on it, the system is on SSD, /home is located on a hardware raid, the admin is not friends with Linux).

1. Is it possible to place shared folders and backups directly in / home (not in user folders)? To what extent this is "ideologically" true...

2. Is it possible to somehow optimize the process of setting up terminal accounts? For example: for any newly created user (as well as existing ones), you need to quickly apply the settings of the same desktop, proxy and application software according to a template with a specific account, auto-clean up user directories at the end of the session / time period. If so, how?

3. Clients (thin and not so) differ in hardware, and therefore there is a loss of performance. What exactly determines the quality of video playback on terminals when using LTSP (graphics adapter, memory ...)? The network also behaves incomprehensibly, for example, a modern laptop connected via a gigabit connection works perfectly, the communication channel is clogged to values ​​​​of the order of 40Mbps, but no artifacts or slowdowns in the picture are observed, however, the same laptop connected via a 100Mbps channel plays the same video in mode slideshow, and the stream outgoing from the server is cut down to ~ 10Mbps ...

Maybe there is some tool for monitoring the current load on the client components, since they are determined quite correctly (judging by the fact that they work without problems)?

UPD: 3 question goes into the category of philosophical. Based on the channel usage statistics, one conclusion can be drawn - with modern screen resolutions, at least 10 honest megabits will be required for comfortable work. To watch video in a sufficiently high quality, the channel needs to be five times faster.

Habravchane - do not be silent, otherwise the question will turn into an article :)