Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆
When you successfully installed your system and everything works, congratulations 
Maintaining this level of success is your responsibility, the community will help you with advice and guidance if you ask sensible questions & provide the right information.
Fallback kernel
For rescue purposes, have more then 1 kernel installed to be able to boot into your system with another version of the kernel. Manjaro provides a easy way to install, use and update these kernels using the Manjaro settings manager. Have at least two available, at least one LTS kernel. Check here what kernels are mainline/stable/LTS(longterm).
set up mirrors
During the install a selection of mirrors will be setup for first use. Depending on your location / preference this can be changed to a specific country or global under Settings → General in add / remove software. Generally places closer to you will be faster.
advanced example
My ISP has good connections in 3 countries and I want the server that I connect to to use TLS. I’ve noticed some mirrors perform poorly for me so I want to handpick the mirrors for my installation but not edit config files by hand.
The command below downloads the current list of mirrors, selects the mirrors that fit the selection, lists the speed of the mirror, country and name in the terminal and presents a window to select the ones you want.
$ sudo pacman-mirrors --country Global,Netherlands,Denmark,Germany --api --protocol https --interactive
To get the country list for the correct name to use:
$ pacman-mirrors --list
Documentation on pacman-mirrors can be found here
The settings set above will be kept and refreshed weekly from a systemd service.
Failed services
Check to see of there are failed services with: systemctl --failed from a terminal.
Unsure if it is important? Drop the service name in the search box on the forum or your favorite search engine + Manjaro to learn what it is for, how critical it is and what you can do about it. If in doubt, ask on the Manjaro forum what to do in your situation.
Check system logs from last boot
Check if there are errors in the system log that might be a issue later from a terminal with
journalctl --boot --priority=err
Example
gdm-password][1543]:Gkr-pam: unable to locate daemon control file
Searching for a solution provided a thread on the arch linux forum, a great resource. It’s an error but not a problem it seems so it can be ignored.
Remember, not all errors are bad, if you have none, I don’t believe you. Errors are a way to notify that something failed, the condition can be temporary, there might be something broken/hardware not supported (yet) Easy method: drop it in the search box on the forum or your favorite search engine + Manjaro and see what pops up and how critical it is. If in doubt, ask on the Manjaro forum what to do in your situation.
Check swap status
Check if swap works using the terminal command swapon. The command outputs the used option. If you have no swap configured check here what to do.
Limit systemd log space usage
Your system will start to log various events, this will over time fill up your drive with data you probably won’t need. Systemd will not fill your drive to the point where it is absolutely full but it can take up a significant amount of space. To restrict systemd to a limited amount of drive space use a drop-in option. This way the original configuration file does not have to be edited.
Create /etc/systemd/journald.conf.d/00-journal-size.conf (the folder to if it does not exist)
[Journal]
SystemMaxUse=50M
This setting limits systemd to around 50 MB of log space and tell it to clean up the logs once in a while automatically, only keeping the most recent that fit in the 50 MB space. On my system this would keep a few day’s of logs, enough for my needs. More info on all the log options in the config file and the defaults used.
Have a backup solution / strategy
Sooner or later you will have some of your own files and set up your system exactly the way you like it. It would be a shame if a wrong command or click could wipe out all your hard work so think about recovery in case of failure for your situation. This excellent tutorial is a good starting point for a system restore solution.
For your personal data consider a strategy whereby the threat of losing the storage devices to a disaster (floods/fire/ransomware) should be mitigated in some form of remote backup. As simple as a copy on a encrypted spare drive or a online data synchronization provider is a good starting point.
Enable firewall
By default there are no services enabled that are accessible. Depending on your situation a firewall could be a useful tool to help keep your system secure. Check out the wiki article on firewalls how to enable and configure the firewall. I recommend enabling the firewall on a mobile device, you want to protect yourself from drive-by threats on public networks.
Install drivers when needed
Hardware is detected at install by the built-in kernel drivers using sane defaults. There are cases where specific (additional) drivers are needed to get the most or anything out of the hardware. The Manjaro settings manager will manage most of the options you will need for a stable system. Have a feeling your hardware is not working as it should? Put the name in the search box on the forum or your favorite search engine + Manjaro and see what you can do about it.
Make notes
You might think you remember what you chose and why a week ago, in a few weeks it will be harder. if your system won’t boot, what is the drive that holds your /home with the only copy that important document you need now. Document some basic things about your system on your phone/notebook/wall. Some examples are:
- your drive layout, what, where and why?
- if you encrypt something, loosing the passphrase means it is all gone forever.
- how to restore a backup, have you tested your backup procedure?
Regular system maintenance
Updates come regularly, it is good practice to read the updates posts for know issues and how to solve them before updating. Subscribe to the rss feed, use the forum to send you updates or use a application like matray to be notified of stable updates.
Special attention when updating is needed for changes that are made during updates see here
Check out this handy way to get notified of changes that might require attention
Further reading to keep your system happy & healthy
this is a wiki post, add and correct when needed please
