Install fresh or elevate to Alma 8?

I have a production server running CentOS 7.9, server websites hosted, email etc.

What do you guys think is the best route to take?

1) Setup new server and Fresh install of Alma - reconfig everything and switch over when I think its ready to go.
2) Clone existing server, elevate clone to alma 8, config and switch over
3) During a quiet period (xmas holiday) snapshot live server as backup and then elevate to alma 8.

I am leaning towards 2, I could test by pointing some "spare" domains to it when configured.

I have been reading the wiki at https://wiki.almalinux.org/elevate/
Any additional advice?

Mike

I recommend to install a fresh server, configure it according to your requirements and then migrate all accounts from the old server to new.

If you upgrade your current server using "elevate" then some software requirements/dependencies could be unmet and it will fail the whole migration process. So if you want to upgrade using elevate then it is better to make backup/snapshot of the production server before upgrade.