best practice new instance

Hi,

we have been using wprus successfully for almost 2 years now of an environment with 4 nodes (abt 6000 users). We now need to add a new node.

I would like to have a guideline how to do that. Something like:

1. add the new node as a Remote Site in all the wprus setup.
2. add all existing nodes as a Remote Site in the wprus setup of the new node.
3. export users in an old node (any will do). If you have a main administrative node, use that node to make the export. Use the export function of wprus. Use batches of 2000 users because import will take a while.
4. import users in the new node. Use the import function of wprus.

Questions:

1. is this enough or do I have to do more?
2. is it preferable to do this in ‘maintenance mode’?
3. should I start with deleting existing users in the new node? Or should I delete accounts that also exist in the old nodes?
4. if a user log ins after the new node has been created, will the passwords be synched? Or is this done in the export/import? In other words: if the user starts with logging in to the new node, will his old password work? Or do I have to do something to make this happen?

Thanks for answering, Teijo