upgrading powerpath on RedHat LInux AS 4

We have had some bad experiences doing PowerPath upgrades via the rpm -U method. We will always have a server or two that will exhibit strange behavior, usually bad performance is a symptom. The fix so far has been to remove the old version via rpm -e and install the new version via rpm -i. This works just fine but in many cases changes to the system will cause the devices to get renamed (example: I had emcpowera, b and c; I removed emcpowerb so after the install of the new powerpath they are now emcpowera and b, not a and c). This causes me a bit of pain because I have a lot of severs running Oracle RAC w/raw devices. While I have written scripts to get back where I need to be its messy and a bit scary. So I tested keeping a copy of /etc/emcp_devicesDB.dat, /etc/emcp_devicesDB.idx which I restore after the new powerpath is installed. This appears to be working just fine although support in the past has been vague about this as a solution. Am I playing w/fire ?