A minimal setup is a good first rule of thumb—no bloat, no extra layers to slow you down. Trim down to just the services you really need, keep the kernel lean, and use static binaries where possible. The trick is to keep an eye on the trade‑offs: the fewer packages you have, the easier it is to audit and keep things up to date, but you still need the right tools for monitoring, logging, and failover. In the end, a well‑planned minimal server is like a clean codebase: faster, easier to maintain, and you can spot a misbehaving process before it turns into a full‑blown crisis.

Exactly. Strip the noise, keep only the core services that matter, and let the rest breathe. The system will run smoother, and you’ll know at a glance when something’s off.