1. Workload
- Primary goal: media, Proxmox, storage, monitoring, AI, or networking
- Always-on services listed
- Nice-to-have services separated from must-have services
2. Hardware
- RAM target chosen
- Boot SSD and data storage separated where practical
- Power draw and noise considered
- Upgrade path documented
3. Network
- Static IPs or DHCP reservations planned
- Important hostnames listed
- Switch ports labeled
- Remote access path documented
4. Backups
- Backup target selected
- Restore test scheduled
- Important config paths listed
- One copy kept away from the main host
5. Monitoring
- Uptime checks for important services
- Disk space alerts
- Backup success/failure check
- UPS health or power-loss plan
6. Launch
- Admin URLs stored
- Credentials stored in a password manager
- Rollback plan written
- Next upgrade deferred until the first setup is stable