Func is a secure, scriptable remote control framework and API. It is intended to replace SSH scripted infrastructure for a variety of datacenter automation tasks (such as taking hardware inventory, running queries, or executing remote commands) that are run against a large amount of systems at the same time. Func provides both a command line tool and a simple and powerful Python API. It is also intended to be very easy to integrate with your provisioning environment and tools like Cobbler.
For documentation on Func, including download instructions and numerous examples, see the Wiki.