newbie flash questions

[Big_Z]

Hi all,
i've been reading the forums and ready to jump into the custom ROMs for my Touch Pro VZW. I have my phone unlocked.

1) Before I start I would like to make a backup of the factory ROM in case I need to go back to it. How do I do this?

2) do i need to copy any info from my phone to put into the new ROM to activate it on the VZW network? any network settings or such?

Thanks

Z