Is my configuration adequate? (For whole disk backup)

[Paolo Dina]

Hi all.
I need to backup a server (actually web, dns and mail) placed on 
Internet, and write data on a computer inside the intranet of our 
company. I have read good things about rsync from the mailing list and 
the man pages, and I know that it can represent the solution for what 
I'm looking for.
However, since I'm new to rsync, if you can give me your opinion about 
my configuration I would be glad ;-)

I want say, as first that I have installed rsync via inetd, if this can 
matter.
This is /etc/rsyncd.conf stored on the server:
log file = /var/log/rsync
# Avoid modules listing (security)
list = false
# Avoid client's uploads (security)
read only = yes
# User/Pass combination.
auth users = paolo
secrets file = /etc/rsyncd.secrets

# Allow rsync just from my own IP.
max connections = 1
hosts allow = www.xxx.yyy.zzz
hosts deny = *

[all]
comment = Module for whole disk backup.
path = /

And this is the command line lauched from root user on the client:
rsync -avHz --password-file=rsync_password paolo at www.xxx.yyy.zzz::all 
/home/paolo/rsynced
If I have understand correctly it must be launched by root in order to 
preserve the owner of original files.
Are the switch correct to copy each kind of files, devices, links etc.?

Another couple of things; on the server exists this file:
-rw-------  1 root root   23 Aug  3 10:22 /etc/rsyncd.secrets
containing the paolo:password line,
and on the client
-rw-------    1 root     root           17  3 ago 10:13 rsync_password
containing the password for the user paolo

Thus, is this configuration correct and "secure", or I can do something 
further to improve some aspect of this backup task?
I know that it is possible to use ssh combined with rsync, but probably 
this would require more resources (and time) on the side of server.

Finally, among the various files that are on the server there are some 
of them that can't be backed up without stop the service that handle them.
Is there a way to tell rsync to do a command before/after copying a 
certain file (such as stop the service and restart it after the copy)?

Thanks for your attention,
Paolo Dina