Implementing networked /home

["Reuben D. Budiardja" <techlist pathfinder phys utk edu>]

Hello,
I have several linux (FC and Redhat) workstations. I am thinking of 
implementing a centralized /home for this workstations,using NFS. 
Authentication is done using NIS.  
I have several questions about how to implement this, and what's the best way.

Here are the options I'm considering:
1. On the server: export /home. On the clients: mount /home. I know how to do 
this. This should be the simplest.
2. On the server, export /home/user1, /home/user2, etc, thus for each user 
there is a "export line" for that user home directory. On the clients: 
mount /home/username whenever username login to that workstation. 

What is the advantages or disadvantages of (1) and (2) ? I have seen (2) being 
used on some network (that I don't administer), so I am wondering if this is 
the usual best practice. Furthermore I'm not sure I know how to do (2). Is 
there a PAM module that do this ? I have also read that a lot of mount points 
can put heavy load on the server, so I am not sure if (2) is better.

Any suggestions, or pointers is greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
RDB