[mdlug] is it possible to dd a remote & live drive?

[Clinton Weiss]

I have a server which I can not physically reach at this time, and I 
need to run some major upgrades on it.  I've been a bit lax and hesitant 
to do this, since I don't have access to the machine's keyboard/screen 
if something were to go wrong.  I currently access the machine via ssh.

What I would like to do is create a dd image of the server's drive and 
work on the things I need to change in a virtual machine.  This way, if 
I screw something up, I'm not hosing a live server.

Can anyone here give me some advice or recommendation on this, if it is 
at all possible?
Clinton