Registry explanation of ghosted network adapters

I have a question about how the server 2003 registry differentiates multiple
network adapters within a system.

I have server "a" that has multiple NICs in it. All NICs are defined with
static IP addresses and these IP properties are stored within
HKLM\system\currentcontrolset\services\{ID}. How is this {ID} generated and
does it follow any rules, for instance a hash of the MAC address?

The reason I ask is because server "a" is configured now with a NIC with MAC
address 1 for example. I have a cold spare server (b) that works fine when
booted with server "a"'s OS image except I receive the adapter ghosting issue
(MS article 269155) when I try to configure the IP address for the new MAC
address 2 NIC. All I have to do is re-enter the IP address and anser No to
this question, "Do you want to enter a different IP address for this adapter
in the list of IP addresses in the advanced dialog box?" to resolve the issue
- I do not have to remove the ghost adapter from the registry because I want
the ghost adapter to be there in case I have to reuse server "a" with the
same OS image. So if I move the OS image back to server "a" with NIC/MAC 1
the registry will pick up the static IP settings again from the registry and
be happy right?

So in effect I have to configure/run each OS installation on server "a" to
have the IP registry settings written but I also have to have that OS
installation run on server "b" to to have the IP registry settings written so
that I do not run into an issue in the future when the cold spare is put in
use? Is this correct?