Converting from simple installation to CVS on shared server - various best practices?

I have a working site v6 site on a shared server. Currently, I only have a live site and am the sole developer. I add modules that appear appropriate, modify content, and perform upgrades.

I would like to do the following:

- recreate my site using CVS, so that updates are easier
- use drush to further automate updates
- have some sort of test version on my shared server, so that if adding a module or updating breaks anything, my production site is still intact. I'm thinking, based on what I've read, that I should create a test subdomain
- I'm not sure if SVN is overkill, but I'm willing to use it if it makes sense

I'm not sure of the best way to move from my current setup to the CVS based setup that includes a test version of my site.

My website is not updated frequently by others (there may be occasional comments to a blog post at some point), so I can easily put the site offline, make modifications on a test version of the site, and copy the test site to the production site once I know everything is working. I have access to ssh but am not very familiar with linux.

Is there an obvious sequence of steps I should follow? I've seen posts that suggest some of the pieces, but nothing that covers all of this. I'm willing to use the deploy or cvsdeploy modules if that will help.

I'd appreciate any help.