Automated setup of network devices with information about policy, authentication and device specific data

A method and system are disclosed for remotely storing information for initializing a configurable network device at a direct server in the network. The information for initializing the configurable network device is automatically retrieved and used by the network device to self-initialize after the network address of the directory server is provided. Included in the information in some embodiments are the network addresses of a policy server and an authentication server, thereby allowing the network device to automatically retrieve policy information and authentication information as needed. Remote storage of substantially all information used to setup and run the network device substantially reduces the effort needed to backup or change information for large distributed networks including numerous configurable network devices.