# Caddy vs Nginx deployment checklist

- Record exact product version, package source and available modules.
- Confirm A/AAAA records and intended public listener ports.
- Restrict backend ports to the proxy network.
- Assign ownership for certificate issuance, persistent storage, renewal and expiry alerts.
- Validate upstream CA and expected hostname when using HTTPS.
- Trust forwarded client IPs only from known upstream proxies.
- Test timeouts, request body limits, WebSockets and cache bypass rules.
- Keep admin endpoints private and exclude credentials from logs.
- Syntax check, then test normal routing, backend failure, recovery and rollback.