I have remote access only to a colocated DNS server. I would like to upgrade
the server remotely if possible... the drive is considerable, especially
since my car is not functioning at the moment. :-)

What steps should I take to make the upgrade as smoothly as possible? From
what I understand, I should download the new sets, backup my /etc, stop all
services (except for sshd of course), extract the relevant sets except for
/etc, extract the new /etc to something like /etc.new, and reboot. Then
resolve any issues with new /etc formats after the computer is back up.

Is this likely to work? Did I miss any steps I'll need to perform? I really
don't want to have to physically go to the box if I mess up and can no
longer ssh in.

Myrddin