At the moment I read a lot about SharePoint configuration since I’m doing initial SharePoint configuration tasks. Here are two useful blog posts I have found.
Top 10 SharePoint Configuration Mistakes
This blog post lists the top 10 SharePoint 2010 configuration mistakes (applies for SharePoint 2013 as well). I recommend to read this post before start doing basic configurations! 🙂
Besides the well-known ‘don’t use the SharePoint configuration wizard’ it names 9 more configuration mistakes such as Default SharePoint Database Settings which slows down SQL performance (and therefore SharePoint as well).
Here’s the complete post: Top 10 SharePoint 2010 Configuration Mistakes — and How to Fix Them | SharePoint 2010 content from SharePoint Pro
SharePoint Configuration Management
Also very useful – not only for initial configuration but for configuration management in general – is following article: SharePoint Configuration Management: Guidelines and Tips.
It shows how to track changes of SharePoint configuration and which benefits such a approach has.
Here’s the complete post: SharePoint Configuration Management: Guidelines and Tips
Other Ressources
25 Mistakes to Avoid in SharePoint or Office 365 (and How to Fix Them): http://en.share-gate.com/blog/recording-dont-suck-at-sharepoint-avoid-common-mistakes