[OpenAFS] migrating / updating afs

[forrest whitcher]

I'm about to take an aged afs fileserver (rh linux 6 on kernel 2.2.20/openafs 
1.0.3) offline and have a few options about how to replace it.

I plan for this system to be restored after installing the NSA SE-Linux kernel
which will almost certainly involve some pain & testing, and probably more 
downtime than I'm willing / able to accept.

Viable options include sharing the current data over NFS for a brief period or 
feilding a temporary fileserver to continue afs operations while I debug/
redeploy the primary.

Objectives / options:

	also update the database server openafs 1.0.3 -> 1.2.7
	minimize downtime
	preserve acls if possible 
		(I could restore the acl structure manually in ~2 hours)
	consider rebuilding the cell from scratch

presently the database server also houses the root volumes and a backup:

Total number of volumes on server mozart partition /vicepa: 2 
root.afs                          536870912 RW         29 K On-line
root.cell                         536870915 RW         12 K On-line

Total volumes onLine 2 ; Total volumes offLine 0 ; Total busy 0

Total number of volumes on server mozart partition /vicepb: 2 
root.afs.readonly                 536870913 RO         29 K On-line
root.cell.readonly                536870916 RO         10 K On-line



The server that's about to be taken out of service has all the active 
data volumes and the following RO copies of the root volumes:

Total number of volumes on server fileserver partition /vicepa: 2 
root.afs.readonly                 536870913 RO         29 K On-line
root.cell.readonly                536870916 RO         10 K On-line



My plan is roughly:

make tar backups of /afs/<cell>/* as a last-resort

update openafs version on the database server
install a new fileserver and migrate the current data volumes to it
take the current fs offline and commence rebuild.
migrate data back to original server


Questions

Is it possible (advisable) to make a raw copy of a volume and drop
it in place into either the same server with a new afs version or
into a secondary server? (I only think of this because it was how
I was forced to preserve the the root volume(s) data on the database
server after a total loss of the OS and recovery from tape backup)

What's the preferred backup / restore method: 

	if I choose to down the whole cell for awhile to rebuild or 
	if I keep the cell 'live' and migrate to a temporary fs

Thanks for any feedback / suggestions!

forrest