“If I could tell myself this before I set everything up, I would say…”
TAKE PROLIFIC NOTES! Do it as you go. Then, when you have whatever you were working on the way you want it, go back and clean your notes up, and make them a part of your 3,2,1 back up policy. Make a road map of how you want everything to operate. That way, as you add to your server/network, all the pieces will be much tidier and easier to troubleshoot.