This is a working checklist, not an essay. Most first-month mistakes are not exotic — they’re a forgotten breaker margin, a worker with no failover, a temperature nobody was watching. A list catches those. Print this page (Ctrl-P on Windows/Linux, Cmd-P on a Mac) or save it as a PDF from the same dialog, and put it where the machine lives.
Everything below is operational discipline. None of it is about money — the settlement threshold mentioned in the first-month section is the pool’s minimum payout in testnet units, which have no monetary value. The point of the list is a machine that runs safely, stays up, and doesn’t surprise you.
01 · Before you power on
Electrical, environment, and network — the things that are painful to fix once the machine is in place.
- Circuit rating confirmed, with the machine’s continuous draw well under it (margin, not right at the limit)
- Single-phase vs three-phase supply confirmed to match the machine
- Correct plug, cable, and PSU rating for the continuous load — no domestic extension leads
- RCD/breaker protection on the circuit checked and working
- Intake and exhaust airflow planned; nothing blocking the fans
- Ambient temperature of the room assessed for summer, not just today
- Noise location considered — machine is not next to a bedroom or living space
- Network cable or stable connection to where the machine sits
- Firewall: the miner’s admin interface is NOT exposed to the public internet
- Default admin password on the machine changed before it’s online
- Receiving wallet address generated and written down (and a canary check that it’s correct)
- Pool account created; primary stratum URL and port to hand
02 · Setup and first boot
Configuration you do once, correctly, so the machine runs itself.
- Worker name set to something you’ll recognise (not the default)
- Primary pool configured and connection confirmed (worker shows online on the pool)
- Failover (backup) pool configured — at least one, so a pool outage doesn’t idle the machine
- Firmware version noted; decision made on stock vs custom (and warranty implications understood)
- Fan curve / cooling profile set appropriately for your ambient
- Monitoring in place — at minimum a way to see if the machine drops offline
- Temperature and uptime alerts configured to reach you (email/push)
- Time and timezone set correctly on the machine (matters for logs)
03 · The first month
What to watch while you learn the machine’s normal behaviour.
- Chip/board temperatures checked daily for the first week, then weekly — staying in the safe range
- Reject rate watched — a low, stable reject rate; investigate if it climbs
- Uptime tracked — the machine stays up; unexpected reboots get looked into
- Hashrate steady and near the machine’s expected figure (not silently degrading)
- Settlement threshold reached at least once, confirming the wallet address and pool payout path work end to end (testnet units, no monetary value)
- 2FA enabled on the pool account
- Wallet seed phrase backed up properly (offline, tested — see the seed-phrase field guide)
- No admin interfaces left exposed; remote access locked down
04 · Ongoing
The quarterly-ish habits that keep a machine healthy for the long run.
- Dust cleared from heatsinks and fans on a schedule — heat creep is the slow killer
- Fan health checked; bearings get noisy before they fail
- Firmware updates reviewed (and applied deliberately, with a known-good fallback)
- Records kept — power draw, uptime, any faults — so you can spot a trend
- Pool and wallet credentials reviewed; passwords still strong, 2FA still on
- Spare parts (a fan, a PSU) considered if downtime matters to you
That’s 38 lines. Print it, tick it, and the machine’s first month will be boring — which, for mining hardware, is exactly what you want it to be.