Reconfiguring network interfaces

[David Allen]

I need to make several wholesale changes to a few different systems,
and I'd prefer to do it over SSH without losing connectivity where
possible.  I know I can use ifconfig, or edit /etc/rc.conf directly
and reboot, but is there a canonical way to make the changes in
/etc/rc.conf and "reload" those changes to ensure everything is in a
known state?  From what I can determine, running netif stop/start
would work, but would require I do that locally.